Regular Meeting - 6/18/2024 6:30:00 PM

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good evening welcome to the June 18th
2024 Gilbert Town council meeting I'd
first like to ask you to please turn off
your cell phones or silence your cell
phones and any other devices that you
might have with you here in the chamber
I'd appreciate that thank you very much
I will go ahead and call this meeting to
order our first item of business this
evening is an invo location by next
steps Pastor Brent Humphrey of Sun
Valley Community Church good evening
Pastor nice to see you just push one of
those buttons to turn the mic on and I I
always forget which button it is the mic
will go red when you there thank you
okay please pray with
me Heavenly Father we come before you
today with grateful Hearts seeking your
wisdom and guidance As We Gather for
this town council meeting we thank you
for the privilege to serve our community
and for the responsibility you've
entrusted us with Lord we ask for your
presence to be felt Among Us grant us
the discernment and Clarity to make
decisions that will benefit our town and
its residents help us to approach each
issue with open minds and compassionate
Hearts seeking the common good above all
else give us the courage to stand for
what is right and just and the humility
to listen to the voices of those we
serve May our discussions be filled with
respect and understanding and may our
actions reflect your love and grace we
also lift up our town and its people to
you bless our leaders residents and all
those who work tirelessly for the
betterment of our community provide for
those in need comfort those who are
hurting and bring peace to our town as
we begin this meeting we ask for your
blessing and guidance May everything we
do bring glory to your name and serve
the people we are here to represent in
Jesus name we pray amen thank you thank
you so much Pastor we appreciate your
time this evening next we will have our
Pledge of Allegiance led by counc member
ban Giovani please
rise I pledge allegiance to the flag
United States of
America next if I could ask our town
clerk Chelli to please um offer the roll
call Mayor Bridget Peterson here vice
mayor Scott Anderson here council member
Chuck Bon Giovani here council member
Bobby Buckley here council member young
Kowski is absent council member Kathy
Toki here and council member Jim
torguson here aor is present thank you
so much cheli first on our agenda this
evening is proclamations I will come
down to the floor
thank you can I ask the anyone with the
Gilbert leadership board Gilbert's
leadership Chamber of Commerce Gilbert
leadership chamber foundation and any
members of Class 32 to please come on
down and join
me hi
seems like I just saw you guys oh
Friday is Jenna oh Jenna's here too yeah
Kristen
good assistant
chief we are here to Proclaim June as
Gilbert leadership month whereas the
annual Gilbert leadership program is
managed under the Gilbert chamber
foundation and is designed to challenge
educate and weave a class of diverse
individuals representing the many
Fabrics of Gilbert and whereas class
members take part in team building and
Community Centric learning days that
expand their knowledge and Leadership
traits while also fostering lasting
connections with a network of community
leaders and whereas the Gilbert
leadership program is organized and
managed by a board made up of volunteers
who plan impactful experiences that
explore Gilbert's Community from all
angles including its history the
government education Economic
Development Public Safety Health and
Wellness and nonprofit organizations and
whereas class members must conceive plan
and Implement a group project that
benefits the community and is executed
through the efforts of every member and
whereas the current Gilbert leadership
class class 32 spent a day preparing
painting and rehabilitating a space for
future
use now therefore I Bridget Peterson
mayor of the town of Gilbert do hereby
Proclaim June 2024 as Gilbert leadership
month in Gilbert Arizona and extend the
community's appreciation to the Gilbert
chamber foundation and the 670 plus
program graduates many of whom have
become leaders within our community and
across our region and state I encourage
community members interested in the
program to reach out to the Gilbert
chamber Foundation to learn more and
also make alumni aware that you can now
reapply to participate in the program
once again with class 33's application
open to all interested through July 5th
2024
congratulations so there's my secret she
blew me up a bigger copy so I could read
it without my glasses on and here's the
real Proclamation but I wanted to just
say Class 32 actually graduated on
Friday night I think this is the first
time I've had a class in that had
already graduated to proclaim the month
of June as National as Gil leadership
month but the program has changed oh
there's our picture you guys there we
are from your graduation this program
has changed so many people's lives over
the years and I want to give a shout out
to council member tilki who actually
created the program when she was the
director of the Chamber of Commerce and
she was in class one now I said this was
Class 32 there is only one class a year
so this has been going on for 32 years
and I was a member of Class 8 and they
heard my joke went through when I was 10
but I would like to give everybody just
a moment to um tell me who you are if
you're remember of the class the board
the foundation and you have to name what
class number you are in and I know you
guys are 32
but it Richard Mo's Class
32 Janice Adams also with Class 32 Jim
Bley Class
32 Tony rodari Class
32 Errol Turner Class 32
EJ alomi Class 32 Elizabeth frier Class
32 Jen Osio Class
32 Erico Callahan Class
32 Jen Rosen har Class
32 Jenna call outgoing board chair um
class
27 Sarah Watts the class liaison and
class
21 Deb Carr I'm the past chair on the
board class 25
Dan Henderson Class
32 Kristen Drew class 26 and incoming
chair Bridget Peterson class8 former
chair of the board also spent seven
years on the board of directors with
Gilbert leadership program I would love
to um just have anybody else that's in
the audience that went through Gilbert
leadership if you could please raise
your hand because I know there's people
here thank you I see people back there
um here we'll take a
photo e
next we will move into our public
hearing items for the evening mam mayor
yes I have two points of order yes um
first one um due to True parent true
true transparency with council member
tilki not being here I would like the
motion to excuse me council member tilk
is here I'm sorry council member Kowski
not here I would like to move item 39 to
our August 6 meeting so full Council
come be here to discuss
this
absolutely
mhm that's a motion seconded I have a
motion and a
second to move item 39 to a date certain
are August 6th or August 18th I'm Sorry
Miss August 6th meeting
um can we oh can we please
vote motion passes 51 I have another
point of order also
please um I have a motion for to remove
item
31 to the August 6th meeting and move it
to the public hearing section we have a
lot of people who do want to talk about
the garage issue and I'd rather have
them discuss it before we just vote on
it and then hear from them afterwards I
second
that so I have a motion
to move item 31 from the consent agenda
to the public hearing portion of the
agenda for the August 6th meeting is
that what I heard correct I have a
motion and a second
please
vote motion passes 60 so staff did you
catch that item 31 contract would move
to public
hearing um anyone that's here to speak
on item 39 uh during the public hearing
I will still allow you to speak on it
that's what we've always done in the
past because we um just decided to make
this change to move that to the next
meeting so I will always allow the the
public comment we have under public
hearing um items will be heard at one
public hearing at which time anyone
wishing to comment on a public hearing
item may do so comments will be heard
from those in support of or in
opposition to an item I have items two
yes point of order since the whole thing
is about transparency I believe that
having a full Council for that
conversation is more important than to
expend that time now when there won't be
a vote or a motion on it this evening so
I would like that not to be part of the
uh the upcoming langu of the meeting
uh if that's a motion I'll second it I'm
making a motion to do that can I please
stop in check with our Clerk and our
town attorney because I've never seen
this happen historically in Gilbert ever
the public has come out to speak on an
issue they are here tonight they should
be given the right to speak on the issue
that they came out believing was going
to be part of the
agenda but I don't if there's legal
or so mayor council we're just
conferring just to be sure
so what the council can do they can have
a vote it would take a super majority to
not allow the comment um because you're
kind of sub in the rules you have the
authority to do so and sounds like there
was a motion in a second so you can have
the vote on that to not allow public
comment at this hearing you would do it
at the when it's next heard on August
6th so the motion is to deny the public
comment for this meeting and we would
have to have a super majority which
would be how many people Chris it would
be there's only six of us here it'd be
five of six you have to have five of six
say say we'll have no in order for it to
be heard tonight and yes for it to be
heard at the next meeting the motion is
to not accept public comment tonight
instead have it on August 6th right so
if that motion passes at least five
council members then there's no public
comment tonight on that item I'm just
trying to be clear of which way people
need to vote so that they know because
we have a negative to not have the the
public discussion tonight or to not
allow the public comic tonight so would
you vote Yes
no I don't want to have the public
comment tonight I'm trying to be clear
that that's correct okay yes vote means
there's no public comment tonight it
will be on the 6th and a no vote would
say there's public comment tonight and
it would happen again on the 6th as well
could we have a discuss on that real
quick sure I just feel that council
member um Kowski should be here during
that discussion and should hear from the
uh Community also on that on that
discussion
council member Buckley did you have
something that you wanted to add oh I'm
sorry no no I do not council member
torguson no I just feel that since young
was so adamant about the presentation we
had at that study session which
unfortunately she wasn't here for I want
her to be part of the entirety of the
discussion and I just think it's very
important if we're going to be
transparent that she is part of the
entirety of the discussion understood I
did just want to point out that when we
voted to move this to this evening's
agenda council member Kowski knew she
wouldn't be in town and we knew she
wouldn't be in town so it got moved
fully knowing that she would not be here
and present for this discussion Andor
vote I I want I had no idea she wouldn't
be
here it was on sorry it's it was on my
calendar I was I would assume that
everybody knew that she wasn't going to
be here but she knew she wasn't going to
be here well I knew she was going to be
out of town but didn't know she wasn't
going to call in and either way she she
needs we need to hear from her and she
needs to hear from the citizens also I
believe so we have a motion and a second
to delay it to August delay the public
comment to the August 6th meeting
correct so if you vote yes that's to
delay it if you vote no it's to not
delay it
vote passes 51 the public comment for
item 39 will now move to the August 6
meeting I apologize to the public that
came out to speak this evening I've
never in 24 years seen this happen from
this dis
um so please come back and speak on this
item in
August mayor this wasn't a negative
thing this was for transparency so to
say that to come out and say that makes
it sound like a bad thing this is a good
thing what we just decided to do so we
can hear from I'm the one who's
receiving the nasty emails about
stopping public comment so I want to
point out that I am opposed to not
allowing the public to speak that are
here this evening if they took their
time to come out this evening I believe
they should be allowed to speak and that
is what I have seen historically for 24
years and that's all I was saying I do
not think it's fair to the people that
have taken time out of their evening to
be here to speak on this issue maybe
they aren't available August 6th and so
now they won't have an opportunity to
come back and speak at that point in
time I just wanted to point that
out moving on we have back to our public
hearing agenda we have um two liquor
licenses we have two items that are
asking to be continued to August 6 for
the regular council
meeting we have a budget code of
Gilbert an agreement
10A
um Are there specific items that you
would want to and I I left a
Redevelopment area off specifically
because I know that will be a public
hearing are there other items out of the
ones that I listed that you would prefer
to have a public hearing discussion on
or any staff presentation
on opening the public hearing number
seven I would like to have a discussion
on okay number seven um as far as on so
mayor possibly number I'm sorry number
seven staff presentation and discussion
just so I'm clear you know what no I
think just a quick discussion I I I do
want to ask your mic's not on I do want
to ask ask some questions for number
seven okay we're prepared thank you
number nine will be pulled separately it
has to be a public hearing okay yeah
mayor yes Sor sorry um number 10 number
10 okay 10 not 10 a 10 10 okay I'm going
to pull 10 a because I just want to make
a comment about that okay so I will
close the public hearing what I'm
hearing is I would take a motion to um
approve 2 three 4 5
8 and that's
it I I make a motion to approve 2 three
4 five and
eight
did I think you got them all I said 2
three 4 five and eight I'll second that
I have a motion in a
second please
vote motion passes 60 so anybody here
that was here for items 2 three four
five or eight
they have passed or and are moving
forward to the next meeting agenda um as
they were listed on our agenda this
evening moving on to going back to item
number okay now I have to cross these
off so I know what we've already
discussed going back to item number
nine
would be our next item I will open the
public hearing mayor Peterson yes I'm
sorry part of that motion was not to
continue item six can we get
clarification on that we wish to no I
think we said I wanted to continue item
six uh I thought it had already been
done in the agenda continue item six
item seven I wanted some discussion upon
right okay so we I have a circle on
seven I thought six was part of what I
said no two three four five six and
eight or just eight did I just say eight
I think you skipped eight and just we
need open the public hearing close the
public hearing we need a motion on um
number six I'll make a motion to
continue to August 6 thank you I'll
second
that we have a motion in a second please
vote okay take two that passes 60 anyone
that was here for 2 three four five six
or eight they have now been moved to
August 6th or have passed on the agenda
this
evening take two next we have item
number seven that would
be open the public hearing for item
number seven if staff could please come
to the
podium for um I don't think we need a
full staff presentation but I think we
have
questions I'd like a little presentation
oh you would like a presentation yeah a
smidge Jennica do you have a
presentation prepared a reader digest
version oh you're too young for Readers
Digest
have to stop using that
reference what are we going to call it a
social media version because it's short
to the point oh but that' be fake it's
on social media thank you Jennica turn
your mic on please don't for thank
you here we
go would you like me to address um
questions first or would you like me to
go through a presentation mayor and
councel I'd like just a little bit of a
present presentation I there were some
questions I had that I couldn't find
answers anywhere no
problem so over the last few months we
have been going through a process to
develop electric vehicle charging
fees that process is included a study
conducted by Walker consultants and then
we discussed uh the findings of that
study during the March 5th study
session during that study
session we did discussed are some
proposed fees a 25 cent per kilowatt
hour to charge for the first four hours
70 cents per kilowatt to charge after 4
hours and then $5 per hour as an idle
fee and then
$175 fine should someone be parked in a
spot that's not actively charging or
Park their non-electric vehicle in one
of those
spots the intent of those fees were to
only Rec recoup the cost of electricity
dispensed by the charging stations and
not designed to include the cost of
infrastructure those proposed fees align
with the current market whether that's
another municipality or um even some of
the private providers in the area as
well with that and based off of assumed
usage since we do not have any data
being collected from our current
charging stations Walker Consultants has
estimated an approximate revenue of
about $6,500 a year um at our three
current
locations but based off the feedback and
some of the questions we received during
that study session um we did have our
consultant go back and do a draft Break
Even analysis to see what that would
look like if we were to include the cost
of infrastructure in that calculation
and what they found um is
that an annual average cost would be
about 40,00
that takes into account the current
estimated cost of replacement at our
three
locations that also takes in into
consideration the cost of the site work
and the preparation included in that
project so with that $40,000
annually that break even
analysis determined a fee of almost 83
cents um to be required to would be
required to recoup the cost of
infrastructure along with the cost of
electricity
that analysis also assumes that we'd
have the same demand that we'd have the
same amount of of consumers residents
the community um wanting to use our
chargers at that 83 cents that would at
eight at the 25 cent rate which we
believe is
unlikely that
fee would be more than double what is in
the surrounding areas and then charging
at home is even less than that rate um
to put it in a little bit of perspective
if you were to go 250 miles on a
non-electric vehicle um and 250 Mi on an
electric vehicle the charge would be
three times more than the price of gas
at that
rate and now just to give some some
context to that comparison um we did
look at Chandler Mesa Tempe Scottdale
Glendale ASU as well as the State of
Arizona offices in
Phoenix currently um with that break
even analysis
showing quite the increase in fee uh we
are recommending that we continue with
the proposed rates with the 25 cents um
with the intent to recoup electricity
costs only to better align with the
market um and that implementation will
begin here at Town Hall first and at the
two additional locations as those
replacement projects um complete
one of the one of the biggest items I
look forward to bringing back to you is
a pilot program that pilot program will
provide us the data that we will need to
continue examining this cost as well as
um making decisions in the
future and just um some further context
on the other two locations with Town
Hall being ready to implement the
projects currently under replacement for
for heway parking garage and the Public
Safety Training Facility we're
anticipating an April of 25 date for
those to turn to be turned on with that
fee and then in that process that brings
us to um we concluded the study session
have provided the feedback from our
consultant and April 8th the notice of
intent that you directed us to post was
posted which puts the timeline at August
1st potential implementation of that fee
so those next steps in that process
should Council choose to implement the
fee um that fee will become effective
August 1st and then a one-year pilot
program was requested so we can continue
to gather and analyze that data for
future
needs that's all the presentation I have
today if there's any questions I'm happy
to answer them thank you Jennica any
questions for jenica council member
Torus
uh and forgive me because i' I've been
having misgivings about this since it
was first
presented but it's going to
cost the town the taxpayers 40,000 a
year to upkeep and implement
this and I I I have a problem with it
because it's an incentive not to install
to to be self-sufficient on your own
vehicle uh it costs x amount of dollars
to put uh the charger of your home uh to
me to only make
$6,500 after the cost of electricity and
lose
$40,000 I I just
really I really want to see it break
even and I know that I'm probably very
much in the minority on that and and I'm
not trying to to Pearl Harve you with
this but is there some way we can get to
to a break even point cuz otherwise
what's the incentive for somebody that
has an electric car to put their own
charger in if they can just hop on down
to the the the garage and plug it in for
25 cents a kilowatt
hour so that's my struggle I mean can we
get to a point of
recruitment council member torguson I
think it's a great question but
unfortunately with charging stations
being a practice that we've employed for
many years um we just currently do not
have the data so with this project to
replace those we have the ability excuse
me we have the ability to get that data
for you and we can look at these the
pricing structure with actual usage data
from our from our locations right now
our consultant has nothing to go off of
other than use in the area um data on
that how many electric vehicles are in
Gilbert and in the surrounding areas
unfortunately with the way our current
um Chargers are set up we have no way to
know actual usage data and so I look
forward to the opportun Unity to bring
that back to you and that may adjust
where that break even analysis is um and
thankfully for us with the three
locations we have very different users
at all three is what we're assuming um
with their the three varying locations
and so I I think once we have some data
we may we may be able to adjust that but
I wouldn't be able to give you an answer
until we have the data
collected council member Bon Giovani
thank you I'm not going to put you on
the spot that's okay but but and I
apologize for not asking this during the
study session it just it wasn't clicking
when I was um sitting here we were
talking about that so how many actual
stations do we have right
now and how like how many different cars
can park in charge so each station
serves two
vehicles and I could be wrong I will go
back and verify for you but I believe we
have 21 stations currently and that's
publicly available as well as we have
six um behind the secured area at the
Public Safety Training Facility as
well okay so and we're going to
lose 40 min well 40 was at the highest
rate so 20 was 29 I think it was um at
the current rate minus 65 so we're going
to lose about
$21,000 by by installing
the the charger the charging the charge
right okay okay
um and we want to add how
many in the
future currently there are the Chargers
installed here at Town Hall already
right there is a project underway at the
moment um that that will replace the
ones at Public Safety Training Facility
as well as at the heway parking garage
in the future we have not quite decided
um where or how many that we will have
in the future okay but I believe that it
will be
upcoming um so would approximately take
four years to really Break Even from
6,500 profit after we pay for the
electricity and costing
$29,000 with our current estimates and
this initial assumed
data that is what we're showing however
our actual us may may find something
else sure um and this isn't replacement
cost either
that is the current replacement rate to
replace our current Chargers but that's
not where I'm going I'm going so um how
long do these things last right now
we're anticipating a 10-year useful ey
okay and we'd have to buy all new ones
in 10 years unless they change the
technology in two years we have to buy
all new ones in two years
potentially okay just checking just
checking
um and and and I'm asking this because I
don't know so has anyone approached any
kind of private public partnership for
this would Tesla lease the parking
spaces from us I would have to go back
in or call a call a friend um to give
you that information but I I would not
have that answer at the moment okay I
mean I'm all for electric and all that
kind of stuff but to me it seems like
we're we're we're subsidizing people
that have electric cars in many ways you
know what I mean um
and I I I know we don't have all the
answers with this technology and and I
was even I remember I asked during the
study session do they have solar panels
that can give us electricity for
somewhat free um but that's all the
questions I have I I appreciate you
sticking up there and being under
pressure no problem thank you council
member Buckley I just have a quick
question if I remember correctly you
mentioned something about how many
electric vehicles are in Gilbert do you
do you know that number have have you
guys I I can't recall if you said you
had it or if you didn't our Consultants
did use that figure and I could
certainly find out and provide that to
you at a later date yeah I I would like
to have that I would like to get that
information if possible I are you asking
for approximate residents that have
electric vehicles or approximate how
many we have within the town Fleet I'm
just trying to be clear well I think I
think I asked for how many electric cars
are in Gilbert so that would include
Gilbert the entire town whether it's on
our Fleet it's parked in someone's
garage or um wherever how many electric
cars are actually in
Gilbert and council member Buckley I
will certainly um gather that data and
provide that to you at a later date yeah
thank you thank you I appreciate that
the in response to
some of the items council
member Bon Giovani was speaking of in
regards to the price and that maybe
we're not making enough money on that
has have you done some analysis in
regards to having a a higher increase so
that we break even uh instead of I mean
25 instead of 25 cents we need to Let's
double that and charge them 5050 cents
I'm sure you've done some different
calculations but that's just a thought
council member Buckley we actually have
done that break even analysis based off
of the feedback we received at the
council study session um and what that
shows is we would need to charge almost
83 cents which puts us much higher than
the market um and it also puts us at a
rate that's three times higher than
fueling an a non-electric vehicle so
unfortunately we do not believe that
that that that would um would bear well
in our community um and I think it would
decrease our our usage as well well I
would just like to say 83 cents is um
you know if that's per hour or whatever
sure beats the heck out of$ 479 a gallon
for
gas and I I understand um with new
technology and with this being a newer
topic certainly something I was confused
about initially and our our consultant
was wonderful at trying to explain if we
were to have a non-electric vehicle um
get about 250 miles and compare that to
an electric vehicle that would get about
250 miles that's where they came up with
the calculation that it would cost three
times more to fill the electric vehicle
than it would the non electric vehicle
yeah well I guess you can look at that
when you get about 24 miles a
gallon in gas but thank you you're
you're being very patient and very
professional and and I appreciate your
answers thank you council member tilki
thank you mayor uh hi jenica um if I'm
remembering from our study session um we
currently don't
charge um for using our stations and
this project that we were going to be
gathering data over the next year is
going to be able to give us a lot more
information but we would be then
charging the public to use those that
were in like our garages and things like
that but this also allows us to track um
our own Fleet and those departments
would be charged for that so this is a
different model than in the past um I
appreciate the comments about breaking
even and I just want to make sure I
heard correctly it appears that within
four years or how many years 4 years out
of a 10e life we would break even we
would um have the rate that was
reasonable comparable to the other
communities um as a person who gets to
go to the gas station it is hard for me
to equate the two because when you're
looking dollar to dollar it doesn't make
sense but I think think it's it's a
little different model and so um I think
that's a little hard to get arms around
but um if I understood right this was
going to be not a pilot program
but it is in a sense of gathering the
data so that we'd have more information
in the future is that correct yes thank
you well said and your memor is better
than mine tonight council member bani
thanks for clearing it up council member
Toki so that brings another question to
me what are we in the hole now do we
know I'm sorry if we're not charging
what are we in the hole
now I don't think we know because we we
haven't been tracking it in any way so
how would are you meaning by well if
we're not charging for it now and people
are plugging in how much are we losing
now do we have that number Jennica how
much electricity is being used at those
Chargers currently ask is that right
yeah that's yeah it took me a
second R from a game
show oh oh oh
yeah I was going to say can we just take
a recess please thank you we'll take a
recess
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going to go ahead and call this meeting
back to order
wishing Jennica the best as she moves
forward um I'm going to bring the
discussion back to the council to the
Das and um see what the council would
like to do at this point I entertain a
motion if you would like
to on this item mayor I'll make um a
motion
to approve
item where are seven seven thank you
I've got so many notes Here item seven
um regarding the fees for electric ve
vehicle charging fees uh with the
understanding that we are going to be
receiving data throughout the next year
on that thank you second I have a motion
by council member tilki second and by
vice mayor please
vote motion passes 4 to2 with um cons
members torguson and Bon
iani as the two against moving to
item nine if I'm doing my page right
item nine and I will invite Economic
Development staff to the podium to
present open the public hearing to
present the discussion on the
Redevelopment area consider adoption of
a resolution number
4487 approving Northwest Gilbert
Redevelopment area boundary pursuant to
the requirements of ARS
36473 that a Redevelopment area exists
in the municipality and declaring the
necessity of Redevelopment and authorize
them the mayor to execute the required
documents um we are holding our public
hearing tonight that is required under
Arizona ride Statute in order to do so
and I will open it up to you Dan
Henderson wonderful thank you mayor
thank you members of the council uh good
evening we appreciate the opportunity to
present the findings of the Northwest
Gilbert R Development Area as required
by Arizona revive statutes um as you
know aging areas within a community can
enhance character authenticity and pride
of place they can also when left
unchecked have negative consequences
such as neglect business and residential
neighbor flight deterioration leading to
poor health certainly safety conditions
or aesthetically unattractive
areas the Northwest part of Gilbert is
the most mature
area in the gilbertt community and has
been examined for more than a
decade through this examination we've
determined that a community-driven focus
on the area is necessary for early
intervention in fact in 2012 we began
conducting business Outreach in the area
and public feed feedback signaled that
Northwest was reaching
maturity at the time Gilbert Town
Council instructed staff to begin
monitoring data in relation to Northwest
Gilbert over the past 10 plus years
staff has continued to monitor data
Trends interface with the community
engage industry experts and determine
the optimal time for reinvestment and
Redevelopment
efforts based on the data and the
Outreach the time to begin
revitalization efforts through
Redevelopment reinvestment and
revitalization is
now per Arizon zone of ir statutes
boundary adoption by the Town Council is
the first step in establishing a
Redevelopment area once the area is
adopted the development of goals and
strategies will follow via the creation
of a community-driven Redevelopment plan
that will be brought back to
council for consideration and possible
adoption so we've taken a moment here
and asked ourselves the question why
Redevelopment we Endeavor to create the
place with the market wants to invest
and by instituting Redevelopment today
together we can develop a community
toolbox for revitalization in the
Northwest area so that Gilbert can
continue to be a vibrant place to live
work develop and play long into the
future mayor and Council we are so
humbled by the interactions that we've
had with members of the community
throughout this process the business
Community Our Community Partners
stakeholders and all who have been
providing feedback I ideas and guidance
since as far back as
2012 with this brief overview mayor and
Council I'd like to hand the
presentation over to Amanda Elliott
Redevelopment manager for
Gilbert thanks
Dan I get the fun part of giving you
guys uh the presentation on the
findings so if you just will give me a
minute here take your time get yourself
set up Amanda thank you thank you
okay thank you mayor members of council
it is great to be before you this
evening tonight staff is recommending a
motion to approve resolution number
4487 finding pursuant to the
requirements of the ar ar
36473 that a Redevelopment area exists
in the municipality and declaring the
necessity of Redevelopment
across the United States there are many
examples of the rise and fall of Great
American cities cities who focused on
new areas neglecting aging portions of
their Community Gilbert on the other
hand has made a long-term commitment to
Breaking the cycle of Decline and there
are many terms used for uh breaking the
cycle Redevelopment revitalization and
reinvestment but what does that actually
mean the easiest way to understand this
effort is to liken it to Home Ownership
homes need ongoing maintenance to ensure
that they do not become in a state of
disrepair this Northwest Gilbert effort
uses data and public feedback to
determine where and how Gilbert should
focus its reinvestment efforts in the
most mature portion of the community
another way to look at reinvestment
sorry there's my icons there um is to
consider home renovations so you may
find over time that you want to update
your kitchen or bathroom we can think of
this in relation to Northwest in ideas
like updating Street Scapes
infrastructure improvements or even
enhanced Park
amenities the American Planning
Association which is the leading
organization in the United States for
Community planning defines Redevelopment
as a process or tool that addresses
environmental economic social and
physical
conditions so why now as you'll see data
and Outreach completed over the last 10
plus years suggest that the time is
right now to reinvest in the community
um in a portion where the community is
largely 30 plus years old the area is
vitally important to the community as it
holds over 37% of the jobs in Gilbert
particularly those related to science
technology engineering and math
occupations we know that this area has a
significant number of homeowners who
invested who have invested in their
homes since they were built and we want
to ensure that this area remains a
vibrant place to live work and play and
that the Investments that our residents
have made and our business owners have
made in the community continue to remain
strong in 2014 business and public
Outreach signaled that Gilbert was
reaching its maturity and at that time
Council instructed staff to begin
monitoring data in relation to Northwest
Gilbert so you can see here we've had
some starts and stops over the the last
10 years but we've continually monitored
data we've interfaced with the public
and we brought industry experts like the
Urban Land Institute to determine the
optimal time for reinvestment and
Redevelopment
effort we've had um like other
Redevelopment efforts we've undergone an
extensive public Outreach effort
including development of a website
landing page multiple townwide surveys
with nearly a thousand responses each
focused on Northwest Gilbert two
business walks in conjunction with the
Gilbert chamber we've done roundtables
and dialogues with the public policy
committee we've done virtual public open
houses with nearly 175 attendees two
public meetings in the last two months
the last one that had over 250 attendees
um and we've promoted open Office hours
for dialogue with staff and I'm very
grateful for the individuals who have
reached out and sought additional
information on this
effort uh just to show you this is the
website landing page gilbertaz.gov
NW Gilbert on this page we have links um
to some FAQs and every single public
meeting that has been recordered is
available on this website um most
recently we put out a survey post the
study session as you know study session
is an opportunity for Council to
dialogue with one another we were asking
you about the boundary we should proceed
with post that study session we
proceeded with a survey asking the
public do you agree with the direction
that Council has given us um we had
three responses two said yes one said uh
they preferred the connect bound
country we also had an interactive map
where individuals could pin specific
Redevelopment or revitalization
opportunities they wanted to report and
the interactive map will remain on the
web page um as we continue through this
process if Council gives us the
direction to do so two committees were
formed um to help brainstorm review vet
practices vet ideas and provide
Direction regarding uh Northwest
revitalization and Redevelopment the
first committee is a technical committee
so that's comprised of an individual of
every single Department across the town
the second committee is a steering
committee comprised of business owners
residents developers Architects
contractors land use attorneys
educational Partners Community leaders
and town
staff so let's get into the
statute in the 1970s the State of
Arizona instituted a toolbox of tools
for municipalities that they could use
in a designated Redevelopment area these
tools are meant to Aid the prevention of
or elimination of signs of decline the
statute allows access to this toolbox
for a matter of 10 years so long as the
community has a community-driven plan in
place for
reinvestment so let's talk about where
we are in the process this is
essentially the process for designating
a Redevelopment area this is the
required process we are currently in
this uh this phase here so we've met
with the public we have been monitoring
data we've asked about the boundary
we've St your feedback and now we're
here to um seek your um um adoption
potentially if you were to adopt tonight
we go back out to the public to start
building goals and strategies for this
area we then craft a plan and it comes
back to you all for
adoption so one one other way to put
this just to hammer this s do we agree
that this area needs
reinvestment if yes this is the part
where we're defining where investment
and investment should
occur and then the next step is that
Community develop plan with goals
strategies tools and prioritizations
that goes back to you for
adoption as you may remember mayor and
councel we had three potential boundary
options and we brought this forth to the
public for their feedback and input and
monitored the data and where we landed
based on the feedback from the public
the data and your feedback is on this
boundary that is bounded um at Arizona
Avenue on the East and Lindsay Road on
the west gilber uh U excuse me Baseline
at the North and Ray Road at the South
it's approximately 18% of the total land
planning area of Gilbert which is 72
square miles um and this area is 12.99
square miles mayor you had asked about
homes that face Lindsay Road that are on
the east side and after conferring again
with our um Committee of individuals
including planning we um have are
suggesting that we do not include those
homes as they're part of a larger master
plan community and therefore it would
change the boundary um substantially as
we really kind of wanted a very easily
definable boundary that followed the
data thank you for looking into that yes
thank you mayor um so as per the revised
statutes um it states that a
municipality must notify the property
owner um that within the boundaries of a
proposed Redevelopment area the time
date and location of a public meeting
concerning findings we actually did two
public mailers the first we mailed out
in March 27th again we had over 250
attendees at that particular meeting and
then of course we um have the mailer for
this meeting that was sent
out so as we look at the data for
Northwest let's focus on this boundary
please note that the Heritage district
is not included in this boundary as it
is its own statutory Redevelopment area
um that was adopted in 1989
as part of the designation process the
town must provide data that signifies
the need for redevelopment and access to
the Redevelopment tool the state
outlines nine findings of necessity
which the municipality must demonstrate
it has a combination of so the state
doesn't indicate that you have to have
all findings present so if you remember
this is both for elimination of and
prevention of maturing signs of Decline
and as such Gilbert has identified six
areas that apply to Northwest
Gilbert they're in the check boxes here
apologies for not mentioning that um so
the first Factor one factor that's
prevalent um in Northwest is faulty and
inadequate Street layout this is not due
to poor planning efforts but the reality
is a need of an area transitions over
time as the uses transition and so in
this particular area within the
industrial portion of this bound
Northwest um has seen um buildings that
have transitioned from manufacturing and
warehousing and distribution to office
use or other uses that have created a
need for on street parking so now you
have this competing priority between
those who need to park on the street and
those who the the larger trucks that
need to move Goods in and out of um the
warehouses or manufacturing facilities
so of course this is one of those areas
where if we were to establish a re of
development boundary we would be able to
look at um goals and strategies to solve
for this as we further examine the area
and possibility for revitalization we
knowe that the Northwest growth area so
this is mainly that contiguous area of
employment um that is in the um a voter
approved General plan um that 36% of the
properties in these areas do not have
access via a public
road as we move on with dominance of of
defective or inadequate Street layout
this area has some of the highest uh
vehicle volume streets accommodating
over 35,000 vehicles per day this is
certainly a key area that we've heard
from the community of their concern that
there's a tremendous amount of traffic
and so again we would work um cohesively
with um our departments and the public
to look at opportunities to solve for
this as we look at faulty lot layout
faulty lot layout uh refers to lots that
are challenged to developed to current
standards and so oops pardon me Gilbert
has 348 total vacant Parcels under 2 ACR
so if you imagine a 2 acre parcel that
has to fit parking it has to fit storm
water detention on its site it has to
fit its outdoor um open space uh those
are really challenging to develop um for
these for these Property Owners um and
67 of them are located within the
proposed Northwest boundary so that
equates to uh nearly 20% sign of vacant
Parcels under 2 acres in Gilbert located
within the
boundary as we look at um the factor
unsanitary or unsafe conditions and
deterioration of site or other
improvements this is largely related to
neglect issues so those neglect factors
include things like trash and debris
outdoor storage dead vegetation peeling
paint parking on unimproved surfaces
abandoned vehicles deteriorating fencing
broken windows and aluminum foil in the
Northwest boundary there are
approximately 65 code call Code
Compliance calls per 1,000 residents in
The Last 5 Years and to visualize these
calls we created a heat map the heat map
demonstrates where those calls are
clustered and as you can see the
proposed boundary encompasses some of
the the larger clusters where we've
received calls in relation to these
conditions or neglect
factors conditions that endanger life or
property include properties that contain
um conditions that posed threats by fire
contamination or other causes can
include vacant buildings excessive junk
blocked entrances these are all still
largely related to those C compliance
issues that we can solve for um but in
addition to that we also examine um
police calls for per service per capita
this area does have a higher police call
for service per capita at 76 calls per
person compared to Gilbert as a whole at
68 calls per person and then we also
look at uh defect or unusual conditions
of title and so in pulling information
from the Maricopa County assessor's
office um for closure histories are
noted under that defective or unusual
conditions of title there are
approximately 20,000 Parcels um in
Gilbert that have a foreclosure history
approximately 2,800 of those Parcels are
located within the proposed boundary so
this equates to nearly a quarter of the
properties with a foreclosure History
located in the proposed boundary
but as previously noted the Arizona
revised statute for redevelopment was
established in the 1970s around the time
when urban renewal programs were largely
focused on slum and blight removal as
such the factors that are outlined in
the statute demonstrate the need for
redevelopment primarily focused on the
built environment but Redevelopment as a
practice for ensuring that mature areas
of community remain vibrant has evolved
it's evolved so much so that the
American Planning Association notes that
recognizing circumstances that lead to
decline requires a more comprehensive
set of Remedies than simply changing the
existing physical environment and
conditions so as such staff has examined
economic and socioeconomic
characteristics that align with SS of
maturation and these factors signal
potential need for specific or
specialized goals and strategies to help
people in our community reinvest in
their
property so we did a quick economic
analysis um retail vacancy
is trending at 3% on par with the rest
of the
community um no surprise here because we
have such substantial and great
industrial in this area it's actually
fairing better than the community with
only a 1% vacancy whereby the rest of
the community is at about 5% vacancy in
industrial and then another no big
surprise here this area is fairing worse
than the rest of the community in
relation to office again we talked about
those uses that have transitioned where
building may have been industrial
transition to office office and then Co
hit and now some of those buildings are
sitting vacant because they have a lease
on them so we're not um overly surprised
by this but we are um very curious what
will happen with the future of office
and want to keep an eye out on this
trend we were thrilled to see that uh
McQueen District park and Activity
Center is one of the top five visited
Parks um in Gilbert and when we met with
the community there was a resounding
conversation about how much people love
their parks and want to continue to see
us reinvest in our parks and we know
that there is a comprehensive Parks
master plan underway right
now um we looked at uh Parcels built by
years so this helps us understand the
condition of p uh of parcels so in
Gilbert there are more than 8600
properties that were built before 1990
and as much as I load to admit it that's
30 years old uh nearly 60% of those
properties are located within this
boundary option and so then we compare
that to our e Mercy home repair program
so this program allows individuals uh
who are Income eligible to have
assistance um with minor home repairs
and as you can see in this map this is
another heat map the heat map really
correlates with the age of those
properties um and then you can see
there's some cold spots so these are
areas where we're not receiving any
calls um for service or
assistance we compared HOA and Nona
neighborhoods and in order to understand
what the different needs are between the
neighborhoods for example we heard from
those in Nona neighborhoods that
assistance with exterior repairs and
Landscaping may be helpful while those
in HOA neighborhoods suggested that you
know grants to help repair exterior
block wall fences in the um in their
neighborhoods or monument signage could
be helpful in offsetting some of those
costs in the
neighborhood we also look at um the
population and the the purpose of
identifying shrinking population isn't
to suggest that we need to attract more
individuals to an area again the area is
already largely built out um it's really
to help us understand the shifting or
changing demographic so for example um
82% of this boundary so areas in here
are actually expected to have a
shrinking population and so one of these
factors May simply be that children are
growing and leaving home but this type
of
information um if if that is the case
then helps us work with our schools in
Northwest um who've already been at the
table throughout the process so again
this dat is really just to help us
inform us as we move into goal creation
um there are nearly 30,000 individuals
65 and older in the uh Gilbert Community
almost 7,000 of them reside in the
proposed Northwest boundry so that
equates to nearly a quarter of those 65
Plus on a fixed income in less than a
quarter of the town's planning area
there are nearly 40,000 households that
apply more than 50 uh 4,000 excuse me
let me clar ify that approximately 4,000
households that apply 50% of their
income to housing costs and so that's a
nearly a quarter of those households
that reside within this proposed
boundary the dep the Department of
Housing and Urban Development notes that
as a best practice no more than 30% of
income should be applied to
housing of the nearly 5,000 households
in Gilbert that live below the property
level a quarter of those households or
1,200 uh households reside in the
proposed boundary again this data isn't
is simply to inform so that staff can
monitor these Trends and work with the
community to determine if there are
specific goals that may assist those who
want to reinvest in their property but
may be on a more fixed
income and then finally of the nearly
16,000 households in Gilbert with
disabilities nearly 4,000 of those or a
quarter of those households are in the
Northwest proposed boundary strategies
to assist revitalization may be things
like mapping and replacing older
sidewalks that no longer meet Ada
standards as an
example so we also wanted to chat
through these are we have an FAQ section
on our website landing page but these
are some more let's say recent FAQs that
we've been receiving um over the last
couple weeks so I want to address all of
those so as we noted the Arizona revised
statute for redevelopment was created in
the 1970s so during the time where urban
renewal programs were largely focused on
slum and blight removal the statute
hasn't been modified since its creation
to address the substantial changes over
time in the practice of Redevelopment so
um we we we have questions we've
received questions about why does this
particular um Redevelopment area have an
association with slum and blight um and
so that addresses the why but what's
interesting is the American Planning
Association um acknowledges that the
term blight when it was established
really referred to grotesque living
conditions and they suggest that um a
revised uh definition of blight uh makes
more sense today so they say blight is
actually impairments on the physical
fabric so buildings properties public
improvements on community structure and
social fabric neighborhood Vitality
security Public Health and Welfare or on
the economy property values tax base
facility OBS obsolescence um and
employment base all things that we are
keeping an eye on through Redevelopment
areas the Heritage District itself has
been Town Council adopted Redevelopment
area for more than 30 years during that
time the term slum or blight has never
been used to promote the area and its
opportunities for redevelopment
reinvestment and revitalization just
like the Heritage District when
discussing Northwest Antiquated slum and
blight terms will not be used the
downtown Heritage District which is the
original Town site serves as an
Entertainment District and community
living room um and based on its
designation we've seen a number of
positive outcomes we've seen a
community-driven vision commitment to
character reduce neglect increase
property values increase sales tax
revenue generation that H helps offset
cost to a residents and increase
reinvestment but I really want to be
clear here that what's been the focus of
the Heritage District as an
Entertainment District as our community
living room and as the communities
downtown is not what the effort is for
Northwest Northwest is its own unique
area and we talked about the importance
of employment about the residential and
support neighborhood commercial in this
area we want to celebrate what makes
Northwest Gilbert unique and not mirror
the downtown density or
entertainment we received questions
about expansion of the Heritage District
again on the map you'll note that it
says the Heritage district is not
included this is not an expansion
Northwest has its own unique area um and
then we've also received questions on if
you apply this designation over my
property how does that affect my
property values um and the positive
impact of the Heritage District
investment can be seen by comparing the
Heritage District's full cash value per
acre um to areas within a f minute drive
time so the red is the Heritage District
the FL the blue area is a five minute
drive time the full cash value per acre
in the HD Heritage district is
approximately 2.5 million compared to
1.8 million in the buffer 5 minute drive
time so the Heritage District value is
uh property is valued 37 % higher than
the Aries within a 5 minute drive
time so the next question oh let me the
property designation there was another
question about if if I'm in if I'm in
this area you apply this overlay and I
go to pull my title report and p uh to
sell my home will that designation be
tied to my house and the answer is no
it's not tied to any property it is an
overlay but not tied to your property
and so in the next two prop 207 and um
what referred to as a jet um though um I
am not the expert so our attorneys can
answer questions more in depth but I
will note that again we know that um you
know this statute was created in the 70s
it hasn't changed but what has changed
um and oh okay so it hasn't changed this
since the 70s pardon me um and it does
in the statute it does identify the
ability to use eminent domain but voter
approved measures since
um um since the the Inception of this uh
Redevelopment tool um have limited the
powers granted to municipalities under
the statute so specifically prop 207 um
which is a v voter approved measure in
2013 eliminated municipal use of eminent
domain for economic development purposes
so as such the statute does not Grant
any additional eminent domain powers to
the municipality that it does not
currently have authorized by the state
in fact the statute actually requires an
additional step for eminent domain um in
Redevelopment areas be by requiring
Council approval to begin conversations
with property owners uh for acquisition
related to public use this additional
step is not required in areas outside of
a designated Redevelopment area um and
then in regards to the great uh
government property lease excise tax or
jet um there was a recent um opinion
piece published we just wanted to know
that to date G Gilbert which has had a
Redevelopment area in place for more
than 30 years has never used um gyplet
in the Heritage District or elsewhere in
the town so keep in mind no goals or
strategies for this Redevelopment area
have been developed yet and so that
allows a tremendous amount of
flexibility for the public to oine on
which tools we should bring forth to
council um in a Redevelopment plan and
which we should not so finally we also
had um a number of individuals reach out
to ask if this design is simply an
opportunity to provide multif family
developers uh a means for rezoning and
the designation of a Redevelopment area
doesn't change the already established
Town approved process as a private for a
private property owner to bring forward
a rezone so in other words it's the same
process inside or outside of a
Redevelopment area and I want to
reiterate that the required process
states that um first we must determine
the where and then we can determine the
how and so so once that's complete staff
um is looking forward to um working with
the community on a plan um the plan has
not been developed so there are no goals
related to development incentives um as
the question suggested um and the intent
is really to identify tools that
encourage and support reinvestment um uh
for for not only Gilbert to reinvest in
our properties but to provide support to
community um property owners who want to
reinvest in their own property so let's
just put a a quick bow on this there's a
lot of things that Redevelopment does it
commits to quality of life it um
provides flexibility in an area it gives
more tools um it opens up opportunities
for for Grants it encourages
reinvestment and decreases neglect um
increases property values and we've
we've heard from the community that
they're less um concerned about the the
commercial areas and really concerned
about what it means for their their
single family neighborhoods and we
completely understand that our single
family neighborhoods are the backbone of
our community so we provide these two
examples Arcadia is on the right Arcadia
is a Redevelopment area and you have
million dooll homes in this area and
this area is seeing reinvestment because
of its designation again a
community-driven plan the picture on the
left is of n Gardens and Tempe those
properties just through just through the
neighborhood commercial Investments that
have been made through Redevelopment
those properties have seen a 50%
increase in their property values so
there is a tremendous amount of
opportunity um for
redevelopment for those um who may have
attended uh the last public meeting we
met with we had a panelist of of
individuals who shared their expertise
with us in Redevelopment areas and we
just um I'm not going to read all of
these quotes but just to show you we had
um some individuals who wanted to
provide testimonials so Craig DeMarco
who owns upward projects uh those in the
audience that's poo enjoy ride in our
community uh Jo Johnson who's a
restaurant tour and founder of agritopia
um downtown again Jo R Barbecue too and
Liberty market um and Jonathan Buford
who is the CEO and brew master for
Arizona
wilderness there can't be a peanut
butter approach to this not every single
area within the Northwest boundary is
the same and so we know residential
commercial industrial and the public
realm all have differing needs and our
mission in Gilbert is to anticipate
create and help people this development
effort if adopted allows us to do just
that with the community at the table the
entire way so I'll remind you Council
that we had three boundaries that we
have been um interacting with the
community and understanding their desire
um for which boundary to bring forth to
you for potential adoption and today we
are here for Northwest boundary um again
uh Arizona Avenue to East Lindsay to
West Baseline on the North and Ray to
the South it doesn't split neighborhoods
it creates a cohesive Redevelopment area
again that can really help Elevate um
all of um our neighborhoods it can help
Elevate our commercial and Industrial it
captures nearly 30% of Gilbert's non-hoa
neighborhoods again those neighborhoods
that need some Specialized Care um IT
addresses nearly 60% of Gilbert's aging
properties that are 40 plus years old
provides more connectivity we heard
resoundingly from the community that
they wanted to see more oper
opportunities for bikeability and
walkability and you can see even through
the trail systems that are encompassed
under this that we have some real
opportunity here to build some goals
around that um it reaches the greatest
number of individuals on a fixed income
and provides them tools and services and
then finally mayor and Council it pres
provides an opportunity to solve for the
most call for service and anticipate
create and help
people so with that I know that was a
longer presentation than I've provided
in the past but we wanted to provide all
of the data and information to you and
we would recommend a motion to approve
resolution number
4487 thank you Amanda you can take a
breath
now I'm not sure that you breathed
through that whole thing I almost
stopped you once and said please take a
breath because I can't tell the Cadence
or the pace at which I'm going I think
it's adrenaline when you're standing up
here so I know it is and I've known you
for a long time so I get you but um
Council any questions for Amanda at this
point you will have more opportuni
to um ask her any
questions wait okay thank you
Amanda um and did that completes your
presentation at this point for you and
Dan mayor council memb is yes that
completes our presentation at this
moment great thank you so we have um
five members of the public that would
like to speak I will call you up one at
a time to this middle Podium we'll start
with Dorise
Liddell we'll put 3 minutes on the clock
next will be Holly
shcra one of those but there we go thank
you good evening mayor vice mayor and
council members I just have a few
comments about the Redevelopment area
since I live in one there are a lot of
positives but I think what you have to
realize that there are some negatives
and since the re development
once I moved into that area that's why I
got engaged that's why you see me here
so often because I never know what's
going to happen I never know if zoning
will be changed I never know if I'm
going to have um an overlay or I never
know if design guidelines will affect my
property I never know that I never know
when they're going to put a road
in Redevelopment we lost our city park
it became the senior center we have a
basketball court we're now losing
Veterans Park who's been there for a
very long time we're getting an
overpass I say that to you because Lacy
track was there since
1917 and we can't forget that because
that's the character I listen an
imminent domain always comes up it is
not on property records
at all but it's done through down zoning
up zoning design guidelines rules and
regulations and it be the town becomes
basically the
HOA I think if an imminent domain if the
town really wants to put some teeth into
it I think I would hope there would be a
amend an amendment to this stating that
this Council forever will never take
somebody's
property for imminent
domain if that's your consideration and
making Gilbert the best it will be then
do not put in there that you will claim
imminent domain because you can and it
has been done in the past so I just
thank you and I would hope that um there
positives there's not all negatives but
I think the most important part you
really have to realize this is about
private property rights and I think that
that's the whole issue and I think
that's what I've given up is some of my
private property rights we were down
zoned so I thank
you thanks D next is Holly
shcra following Holly will be David
Baker
please hello mayor vice mayor and
councilman thank you can you make sure
You' speak right into the mic you might
need to lift it up you're much taller
than dor sorry
dor I'm a short person too dor you know
that okay well thank you for um allowing
us to speak tonight um Amanda said that
a quarter of the people in the boundary
area live in are over 65 plus well I'm
only 62 just want to make that clear but
um I understand the comprehensive um
Parks master plan is underway so when
you're considering um the re U
vitalization of this area I just want to
ask that a lot of consideration is given
to McQueen activity center and I realize
that Freestone is just a squeak away
from Lindsay
but pickle ball which is why I'm here is
huge for the for the seniors not only
for the physical but mccre Activity
Center doesn't even have room for pickle
ball during the summer they have two
courts during the fall at
certain uh small times but Freestone we
have 50 people there on a regular basis
every morning and four of those people
not only for the physical activity four
of those people right now have cancer
one has stage four and between her chemo
she is still coming um there and another
man I don't even want to discuss the
things he's going through but we are the
only people that they see a lot of times
so not only is it good for the physical
aspect but for the emotional
aspect you know when you're faced with
what they're facing and they're still
getting up in between treatments and
timing their treatments so that they can
make it there it's really important so
when you consider the master plan and
when you're considering the
Redevelopment I just want to make sure
that um as Dan said it's Gilbert is live
work development and play that you
remember that a quarter of your seniors
live here and to try to drive to Gilbert
Regional Park and play in 110 degree
heat does not work well and to wait a
half hour for a court that's sometimes
available at Freestone is very difficult
and to have no court um just like the
previous um person was talking is is
hard so if
I can encourage youall to remember the
play part um for us in the Northwest
Corridor that would be great thank you
thanks Holly um for the hot weather we
do have a business in Gilbert that's an
indoor pickle ball court all air
conditioning climate controlled FYI I'm
not promoting a business I'm just saying
Google it okay yes but that those can be
very pricey I know but for summer maybe
thank you um next David Baker
and then next will be
theore good evening mayor and Town
Council uh thank you for your work on
the northwest Redevelopment activities I
think it's great thank you and staff for
working on that I have two questions
tonight the first one is about timeline
I've looked at a couple of the
presentations previously so now I'm
curious about kind of the big picture I
didn't see it in the presentation
materials but I I've seen the up and
down curve of we've been studying and
looking so my question is how we
transition crisply into execution doing
uh we've been planning for a long time
so I'm wondering if we can establish
kind of a big picture timeline for
moving through these phases um I Heard
the Ted year comments that kind of
alarmed me but I'd like to see us move
forward on that interactive map that's
out there there are many dots that are
on there that have been there for years
so action down that path I think would
be appreciated some more details there
David I'd love to maybe tackle that I
I'll do my best so tonight they'll kick
this off if this passes and move to the
next steps which I believe would be a
timeline of how they would be moving
forward let me cover the 10 years for
you because I've been here for a lot of
it it has been an up and down battle
with this not on its own because of its
own fault or process it's been a whole
bunch of other things we had a time when
we had elections so we would put it on
hold we had a time when there was a
pandemic so we put it on hold and then
there was another election so we put it
on hold so it really was no fault of
Economic Development or this
Redevelopment areas process that we were
going through it was so many other
factors that got in the way so hope that
alleviates your concerns of why the 10
years took so long I'd like to say it
was even part of the recession but
started after the recession so I can't
blame that but it was so many other
factors that just kept adding delays to
this process completely understand the
cumulative effect but I'm looking for
the impact yes and so the next step will
be if this passes tonight then they will
start to work on a timeline as how they
will be moving forward with this process
I think they don't want to get too far
ahead either they're wishing that it
passes tonight but they have to work on
that first second question was about
this toolkit that was mentioned in the
presentation not many details about that
I'd like to know more about it in
apparently in unlocking this toolbox we
gained some benit benefits as a town
what are those how do we take advantage
of those during this 10year window
that's available to us thank you thank
you so much for your time the
Vore oh there you are the and next will
be Bruce
wakin buttons there and it'll turn it on
it'll light up when it turns on there
you go thank you mayor members of the
council I I thought I put no comment on
there but since I'm since I'm
here um I I would uh I would I I came
here uh I'm opposed to this concept um
some of the uh me was mentioned earlier
that this just becomes a large HOA uh
we've seen these development areas in
other cities and other communities you
know and really what this is is just is
it the town Council or whatever R
development board is and they're picking
winners and losers I we've seen
businesses that have been established in
those areas for years end up going going
away uh you know probably the biggest uh
idea of that is the Bailey's break shop
over in Mesa controversy that went on
because they went and told those people
that they couldn't be there that they
wanted that to be used that corner still
I mean I think they're putting either
apartments or parking lots in there and
and and heaven knows we don't need more
Apartments here in gilbertt you know if
we're if we want to stop SL so um you
know I would ask you to oppose this
concept this isn't this isn't the proper
role of government but uh so thank you
thank you for your time members of
council thanks there thanks for coming
out tonight nice to see you um sorry you
did check no and I just didn't see it
too many things going on sorry thank you
Bruce wlin
I double checked yours to make sure you
wanted to speak Bruce yes mayor members
of the
council one thing I have not seen heard
or heard or seen is the effect of this
on property taxes across the rest of
this the town will that be addressed and
also any new development of a property
while the property Tech be
deferred or will they be start paying
property taxes right away after it's
developed and started to be
used and if they are
deferred how much how much time can we
expect before they're starting to pay
property taxes and because areas will be
affected that because of this well the
rest of us be paying higher property
taxes because of that thank you thanks
Bruce great questions Gilberts in a
unique situation we don't actually have
a primary property tax so this isn't
going to affect the taxpayers on a
primary property tax all we have in
Gilbert is a secondary property tax that
can only be collected to pay back voter
approved debt and everybody has to be
treated fairly and equally in the
community and that's under state law we
wouldn't be able to gift that to any
member of the public or resident or
business because we would also run into
the problem of a gift clause which is a
very big deal in the state of Arizona
too hope that answers your questions
thank you those are all the um slips
that I have for anybody wishing to speak
on this item I will bring this back to
the dis to start the discussion and if
you'd like to ask Amanda or Dan um any
questions or even Chris any questions we
can go to there and I think council
member Tason you have your mic on yeah
one of the first things I wanted to say
those about Bailey's breaks have a
business just down from there the reason
that you have protection from eminent
domain for this kind of thing is
Bailey's breaks he stood in the way he
fought and he did the right thing and
Bailey's breaks eventually decided to
sell but it wasn't forced and it wasn't
eminent domained and I actually have a
block from the building in my office
because I respect that family they
fought and it sits start right on top on
top of my umor and I'm waiting for Clint
bollock to come by and get his half of
the block because he was he represented
them so there is going to be no Tom
Foolery if you want to call it regarding
that you're very protected and that is
codified uh I wanted to say that that
Dan and Amanda and Sydney they do an
amazing job with what they do that this
is not taken to be uh uh something uh
undercover your downtown the the as they
call it the living room of Gilbert is a
Redevelopment Zone but Gilbert anything
that that you look at would have to come
with Council approval there will be no
uh property tax given away there will be
no deferments you'd have to it can't
even be done I don't think uh the I was
a little mistaken on the boundaries I
apologize April wherever you are because
I was wrong a little bit on the
boundaries uh but there the there are
benefits to being there and certainly
you can say that maybe your zoning was
somehow changed zoning can be changed
anywhere but if you look at the property
values especially of some a treasured
business as was Bergie coffee it's sold
for an incredible amount of money that
family can retire uh maybe they still
want to be doing their coffee there but
they made a choice and it did a lot for
this town and the the downtown itself
does a lot more for the overall economic
prosperity of this town than you might
anticipate so I would really suggest to
listen closely to what they're saying
don't obviously trust and verify but
don't be looking at things as though
somebody's trying to get over on you
nobody is trying to get over on you
every single person on this dis every
single person over there they want to do
the best for this community please be
involved please listen to it but I have
uh I have to say that I trust that my
predecessors and the people that will
come after me a a well people come after
me all the time the people will come
after I leave um none of them will be uh
looking to take your property to impose
some separate unique taxs upon you uh
anything of the sort and that is very
much controlled by the actions of seven
people that make policy so please listen
with open ears trust and verify as you
must but I believe that everybody that's
participating on let's call it this side
of the the building uh has everyone's
best interest at heart I don't think
anybody here would want to do anything
to harm the people that they
represent and with that Dan can you tell
us a little bit about how we don't use
let's say Jets as opposed to
Redevelopment sure um mayor council
member torguson um Ananda briefly
mentioned um government property lease
excise tax or what we generally refer to
as gyplet um as a as a tool um
essentially a financing structure um for
for development um there's been a lot of
conversations a lot of questions a lot
of inquiry as of late as to the role of
chiplet and the role of Redevelopment um
and um most recently there was some
questions that came into Council um
asking you um to not approve
Redevelopment because Redevelopment and
jlet were essentially synonymous um we
um worked with Town Council we worked
with Town manager's office we worked
with our legal department
um to get a better understanding of what
um of what jlet does and does not um in
a Redevelopment area and um at a at a
high level um jets you know essentially
um are a development authorized by state
statute
[Music]
um they have some added benefit from a
gyplet perspective in a Redevelopment
area if and only if a
Central business district is also um is
also approved for this area at the
moment um Amanda mentioned we don't have
this area this Northwest uh area or the
downtown area identified as a central
business district um we um have never in
all the years that I've been with the
town and my it is my understanding that
there has never been a gyet deal done in
the town of Gilbert um and
the reminder that Amanda made during the
presentation you know suggested that in
30 plus years of doing Redevelopment in
the Heritage District tools and programs
like jlet have never been used in the
town of Gilbert that said I wanted to
provide a general highlevel overview of
of jlet and its role in the
Redevelopment area we've asked the um
the general counsel here that um to
provide specific details if there's
something specific that you're looking
for for us to talk about I would defer
ultimately to our legal counsel um if
you'd like to get into anything specific
about government property lease excise
tax I have nothing specific unless Chris
wish to continue to the
conversation mayor council I I just add
that the discussion about giblets with
regard to what's coming before the
council before the council tonight with
this North rest Redevelopment area I
think it's either coming from a
misunderstanding of interplay of two
different statutes in title 36 is the
redev development area that's the
statute that would that you're using now
to potentially create this title 42 42
talks about the giblets it's a
completely separate statute statutory
scheme it's not something that's come
before the council tonight um as Dan
mentioned it's not something that I I'm
aware of ever coming before the council
um so it's a different type of program
the one thing that giblet is can be tied
to a Redevelopment area if the council
were to consider an agreement where
there's this giblet um offered if it's
done in a Redevelopment area where a
central business district has been
created and that's not before the
council tonight there's an extra benefit
to the developer on the giblet and
that's where they talk about an 8-year
abatement program of taxes but just want
to clarify that's not before the council
tonight the Council to my knowledge as
Jan said has never considered or at
least never adopted any type of giblet
agreement like a number of other cities
can or have done and in order to do so
if the council were to approve that the
item tonight create this Redevelopment
area in order for a giblet to happen the
council would then at some Future Point
have to create a central business
district inside that formal action that
the council would have to take and then
the council would have to come back with
a development agreement with a
particular developer to actually Grant
the
giblet that make
sense thank you Chris um council member
telki thank you mayor um this for um
Amanda and Dan um I guess on the dpet I
don't foresee this Council or future
councils even considering that in our
toolbox but I appreciate it being
brought up and I think it's great to
have that on the record that that is not
anyone's intent so um that I I don't
think we can put that in the boundary uh
we're just approving the boundary today
but there were some comments from the
public that I wondering if you could
just stress a little bit more um before
asking that um I love more pickle ball
um courts and connectivity and Parks uh
within some of these neighborhoods we
heard um we heard loud and clear from
the residents that came to the different
public meetings that uh those types of
livability items are important to them
and they want to have a say in how that
could be directed in the future but
um there was um questions about emminent
domain so maybe you could just address
that a little bit and um I know we're
not approving any agreements because
that's all going into the public but
just as a general um comment about
eminent domain um and then the timeline
I think the mayor um covered that but if
there was anything you wanted to address
because I think it is important knowing
that we can't go to step two until we
approve tonight but that timeline is
important to everybody who has an
interest and then um I think we address
property tax but I wasn't 100% sure if
if the question was would the rest of
the community be feeling pressure on a
property tax by investing in this or you
know or would it just be that property
if you can just kind of explain some of
that I think there was a little
misunderstanding on property
taxes certainly mayor members of the
council um as it relates to imminent
domain and again this is another area
where I will speak at a high level and
then look to general counsel for
additional um Clarity on on the matter
but Amanda briefly mentioned it in um in
the presentation that um with the
establishment of a Redevelopment
boundary that does not Grant warrant or
provide additional powers to the
community to Mayor and Council to staff
to be able to use eminent domain um
eminent domain um is a is absolutely a
power uh within you know Municipal
jurisdictions and government
jurisdictions to be able to use um but
Amanda touched on it in the presentation
that um that that um essentially law has
changed in such a way to say that
imminent domain would not be used for
the purpose of Economic Development and
so in the Bailey breaks you know
discussion um um whether you have a
brick on your humidor or whatever um as
it relates to the to the um you know to
the biley breakes um thing that um that
was an imminent domain situation um I I
can't speak to whether it was imminent
domain because there was a Redevelopment
area identified I I think that there's a
loose connection there um I don't know
enough about that particular case to be
able to talk about that I think there
are others that probably do um and that
have studied that but from our
perspective what I think is an
overriding element as it relates to
eminent domain is is that we are not
granted through Redevelopment or the
establishment of a boundary for
redevelopment any more Powers related to
eminent domain than are otherwise
granted to the municipality and again
I'll turn over here to uh to Chris Payne
if he wants to offer any additional
clarification on that
mayor council really Dan summarized it
correctly there's no additional
Authority as Amanda mentioned in her
presentation there's actually additional
requirements in a Redevelopment area T
excise eminent domain there's an
additional notification requirement that
doesn't exist outside of that and what
Dan referred to was the 2013 private
property rights protection act voter P
initiative and because of that it
actually modified the definition of
eminent domain um restricted the ability
of cities and other government entities
to use eminent domain for p purposes of
Economic Development so the statute and
I pulled it up here it's 12 1136 defines
what a public use is so cities can use
&et domain to widen a street or for
utility purposes things like that it
expressly says the definition of public
use does not include public benefits of
Economic Development so that's
prohibited by Statute inside or outside
of Redevelopment area
I'm going to throw in a followup to that
that I would like for you to answer
because we also heard that a request for
Council to pass that no future councils
could use eminent domain and I do not
believe we can lock future councils into
anything like that as a current
counil that's correct well any
subsequent Council can revisit a
decision of a prior councel so that is
correct and I would just add adding that
as a condition today would mean no Road
could get widened no utility if there's
utility needs to to you know to expand
some utilities that couldn't happen if
that restriction was in
place mayor members of the council
council member tilky did we address your
question wonderful even the
um did now I think it's Amanda's turn
okay I was going to say property tax the
property tax question but we don't have
a property tax
so uh mayor council member tilki to
address the question on timing so if you
are to enact um this uh Redevelopment
area this evening it takes approximately
6 months to 12 months to develop a plan
again we want to have the community at
the table so we'll we'll take as much
time as we need to make sure that we get
it right get the right goals and tactics
in place and then that plan is in place
for a 10-year period and then sunsets at
the end of that 10 years but the idea
would be that we would come before you
again in six to 12 months for that
adoption and then hit that ground
running um and to the the gentleman who
um asked about the interactive map one
of our goals regardless of if this is
adopted tonight or not is to start
addressing some of those issues that we
can on that map because we know that
they're affecting the community and we
want to help solve for
those did we cover it I think um
property taxes um what would be the
impact on property taxes by uh approving
this um boundary tonight
mayor members of the council um I don't
have a great answer for what the impact
of property tax is I think the mayor
addressed it briefly and in her um
comments um from the um from the
Community member of Citizen that came up
and talked about that um I'm not sure if
legal has any additional perspective to
offer on in what way Redevelopment might
impact property tax no there's there's
really no tie to it um that's the giblet
under title 42 if the council would
whatever at some future time consider
doing that um the only thing I would say
is if it's successful you potentially
has what you saw in the Redevelopment
downtown area where the property you
know property value increased so your
taxes would increase accordingly because
your value is going up and since the
town of gilber doesn't have a primary
property tax it can only affect your
secondary property tax and that by law
can and will increase 5% no matter what
your home value is the assessor's office
by law by a proposition that was passed
in 2013 or 14 that went into effect will
and can increase by 5% every single year
and even the assessor can't change that
because it was a voter approved
proposition I hope corre may just add it
it can only increase that's that's the
cap yes won't necessarily increase by
that amount well I say can and will
because it's a it's a two-level it's a
two-level issue if you meet the full
cash value then it won't but if you're
still under that full cash value then it
will and majority of properties within
Maricopa County will probably never meet
that full cash value because that goes
up the same time your property values
are going up sorry I was that's my
version of it council member torguson
yeah and to put it in perspective your
let's say your property doubles in value
because of this you're still only going
5% you're not going up 5% of the new
value your your increases in your
property taxes are set by the county no
matter how high your property goes if
you bought it for $100,000 it goes stat
statistically 5% a year even if it's
worth a million dollars you're never
going to catch up to it so the the
increase in value the unrealized gain
that you have you will not be taxed on
inappropriately and that's that two part
that I was just referring to a council
member counc member vanan you've been
very patient you've had your mic on I
know I've been quiet too you have very
patient thank you I gave you credit um
Dan um anytime I get 50 emails
I have to address some questions um and
we got a lot and I appreciate that
actually it's tell us we have a lot of
concerned citizens and we have a lot of
Engagement which is which is great
whether it's positive or negative it's
it's great so can we build a big
apartment complex on a two acre
property mayor members of the council
certainly I'd need to know more but uh
generally speaking um I guess the answer
would be no we certainly related to
Redevelopment Redevelopment doesn't
suddenly allow you to be able to develop
a large apartment complex on a two acre
parcel okay can we take property from
people for economic development to build
a big apartment
complex mayor council member on Giovani
um I think Town attorney addressed that
eminent domain can't be used for the
purpose of Economic Development and I
believe that that's our answer okay so
does this actually provide corporate
welfare subsidies to politically
connected developers to build apartments
and other special interest
projects mayor members of
council that that question is certainly
a loaded question but I'm going to go
out on a limb and say no that that
Redevelopment does not
disproportionately create an environment
where we are subsidizing um developers
okay um does this also provide corporate
welfare subsidies to non-politically
Connected developers to build a
departments and other special interest
projects mayor members of the council
council member bovani I um again um no
Redevelopment doesn't um create that
sort of situation and I think um as our
town attorney talked about um gift
clause and some of those other things
would come into play when when
considering those types of scenarios
okay and just so I get this down totally
um does it create existing residents and
business owners will they see their
property taxes increase to pay for sweet
heart deals handed out to developers in
slum and blight zones mayor members of
the council at its merits no
Redevelopment doesn't create sweetheart
deals okay thank you I think I think I
nailed it
thanks did you Hammer that home um vice
mayor
Anderson thank you the planner in me
likes to look at the broad perspective
of all of this and I think you'd
mentioned that we're a maturing
community and as such such um we need to
be able to well we just recently enacted
U our city I'm going to call it the
community of the future for the mayor
the city of the future no either way but
we have an initiative called city of the
future and we're trying to
um protect Gilbert's quality of life
when you look at the normal cycle life
cycle of a city it starts as young
Community it matures it goes beyond
maturity and gets to a point where it's
declining all you have to do is look
around the other cities around us you
see that happening we want to do our
best to prevent that and that's the
reason that we have an area like this
where we can designate and help those
three areas that we want to pay
attention to which is the our economy we
want to make sure it's a vibrant economy
there the prosperity of of that
Redevelopment area we want to make sure
that it's vibrant as um mayor Lewis used
to say clean safe and vibrant and then
we don't need to pay attention to the
infrastructure those are the three
things that we need to pay attention to
to meet the objectives of the city of
the future and I think this
Redevelopment area will go a long ways
to doing that and I think the the people
that live there will see um that we are
protecting that quality of life the best
we can through tools like this and I
appreciate the presentation you two gave
thank you
council member
Buckley good afternoon evening night
whatever it is
now um I I have a question and I'll be
fairly
quick I've gotten numerous nothing quite
as entertaining as what council member
Bon onadi uh got
but is is or is there in any time in the
future the name of the Redevelopment
ever going to be called blight and
slum mayor members of the council
um as Amanda mentioned in the
presentation we don't refer to any area
in the community as as slum and blight
um certainly through the establishment
of Redevelopment and as we look at the
statute and how and when it was created
um words like slum and blight certainly
come into play into the statute from a
community response from a community
Mission perspective as we anticipate
create and help people um initiatives
like Redevelopment um are designed to
anticipate Community decline Community
matur maturation um and work with the
community in order to develop tools
programs um tactics strategies um lots
of different ways with which we can
build a plan to ensure that we are
creating tools for reinvestment and
tools for redevelopment and tools um for
um for businesses as well as residents
to be able to invest in their or
reinvest in um their own properties and
so um we can't get around the fact that
the statute used es words and phrases
like slum and blight we choose to use
words like reinvestment Redevelopment
and
revitalization um to rid um the area of
Decline and working with the community
to develop a program of activities that
um can be used that can allow community
members to reinvest in their properties
is what's important as it relates
specifically to your question as staff
we don't talk about or address things
like slum and blight in the community
but we do anticipate buildout we do
anticipate Community maturation we do
anticipate things like needed
infastructure and other things in order
to create the place where the community
wants to invest and as we take those
principles um we choose to look at
things like neglect decline flight not
slum and
blight very well thank you very much
mayor council member Buckley if I could
just add and Amanda talked about about
the definition um I think when you hear
the word blight everyone has a picture
in their head of a commercial property
or a neighborhood but as Amanda talked
about what the definition of blight is
in my mind that that word should be
updated in the statute because what it
actually says in the statute for what
blight is a dominance of defect over an
adequate Street layout right that
doesn't really that that's blight under
the statute um another diversity of
ownership there's unsanitary unsafe
conditions um faulty lot layout um in
proper obsolete subdivision plating
those are all any one of those findings
by the council means it's blight under
the Redevelopment area so I understand
why it's people hear blight and you have
a picture in your mind which everyone
does but that's not what the actual
meaning of blight is under the
Redevelopment
statute all right thank you uh well and
I brought that up because I I have
gotten numerous numerous emails and of
residents and they don't want their area
they said you know they said we don't
live in a a slum and blight area we
don't want our home to be called that so
I think that's important and I think you
I think you you know described that very
well and maybe we can do a resolution to
change
that council member torguson uh just as
a hope y wrapping all this up with all
the dozens of cut and paste emails let's
call it emailing through voter voice
means I'm I'm unable to respond I'm not
quite getting all the information if you
want to email me jim. torguson
gilbertaz.gov I can answer you but when
it comes through an an automated system
it doesn't work the same way and when
you have somebody's ear it's great
you've got my ear so let's let's use it
respond to
me individually or if you want the whole
Council council members at gilbertaz.gov
but using an automated system it just
shows a cut and paste email so let's I'm
up for communicating with you at any
time it's just kind of hard when I don't
have all the response information
available to me yeah can I add to that I
I just wanted to add to that you can
respond to each one of us individually
by just using our first name dot our
last name at gilbertaz.gov
so any of us and and council member
torius is correct that if you want to
email us directly and and we want to
talk to you we want to email you back so
just you can email any of us in that
aspect I'll make it easier go to Gilbert
a.gov and the council member page and
everybody's emails are there
individually or you go council members
Gilbert a.gov mayor Gilbert a.gov
because trust me nobody spells my name
right so you'll never get my first name
and last name um but yes we do want to
hear from you and when it is a form
email like that it's very difficult and
they came in Fast and Furious and I
checked some of the addresses on them
they didn't live in the Northwest
Corridor they were all over Gilbert so
um I think when you know you're hearing
from the actual residents of the actual
area that we're discussing it's a whole
different topic too right we want to
hear from the residents that this will
affect directly and we heard from some
tonight I'm thankful for the people that
came out and thank you for being so
friendly and nice and cordial and
getting your points across and asking
your questions any other questions for
Dan and Amanda or can I let them sit
down now thank you Dan and Amanda for
all this work I know it's been a long 10
years I appreciate everything that
you've done on this topic and looking
forward to this discussion tonight I
will go ahead and close the public
hearing and bring it back to the dis for
any further discussion or if somebody
would like to make a mo
I'm open to
that mayor yes council member sorry I
didn't know if you were looking for who
was first sorry um first I want to thank
the team they've worked very very hard
in communicating with the residents and
a lot of Outreach and very interactive
Outreach and I want to thank all of the
residents who came out time and time
again to provide their feedback and then
the emails and all of that that we've
received um this project is really near
and dear to my heart for for over 10
years um I've been wanting to make sure
that we are not only dealing with the
growth within Gilbert but looking at the
older sections of our community and make
sure that they don't deteriorate so that
we don't start that cycle um vice mayor
Anderson was talking about and there are
going to be a lot more um public
meetings I um um I will say parks and
wreck has set the bar high and uh Amanda
and Dan are going to I know meet and
exceed those expectations and we are
going to have a lot of feedback from our
community it's very very important that
we
don't misunderstand that this is
community-led this isn't Council L it's
not staff L at this point if these once
this boundary is accepted now it's the
community given feedback on what they
want and um I'm looking forward to that
um with that I'll make a motion do you
want to speak first yeah I just wantan
to thank you mam sorry um I just want to
point out we are only voting on The
Boundary right now we're not approving
anything inside we're just approving the
boundary
itself thanks thank you I I'll I'll just
want to make a followup sorry before we
make a motion and I sorry I asked for a
motion um I wanted to point out what
council member uh vice mayor um Anderson
said about the city of the future it's
initiative that was started here by the
staff to make sure that we Face these
issues head on and ahead of time we want
to make sure that we're not falling into
the pitfalls that cities before us have
fallen into and that's why it's so
important to do that and vice mayor
gives me a hard time it's not that I
don't like the initiative it's that I
that calling at the city of the future
our residents struggle with because they
think we're trying to turn Gilbert into
a city we are still the town we are not
in any way looking to become a city in
any way shape or form but that's just
the town of the future just doesn't
sound right like it doesn't have the
same effect as the city of the future so
now the vice mayor's been calling it The
Community of the future so we make sure
that we we have being here in Arizona
being such a young State being such
young communities I come from the East
Coast I'm sure many of you have moved
here from other parts of the country
I've been here almost 30 years now but
when you have come from other parts of
the country that are so old they have
done things the same way for so long
being here in a young State and young
communities and you can learn from the
mistakes that were made by all of those
communities and cities and states ahead
of us we have that opportunity here in
this region and I think we do it well I
think Gilbert does it well I think
Maricopa Association of government does
it well I think we all work really well
together to make sure that we're moving
this area together the right way and
learning from those mistakes of the past
way our freeway are laid out if you ever
been to Boston gosh I mean that's where
I'm from I would never drive into Boston
on any given day and I'll drive into
Phoenix any day of the week it's
completely different so we are that's
what we are here to do is to make sure
that we are capturing this and making
sure that this community is looking good
into the future that's what our goal is
and to make sure that you're all
protected and your property values are
protected and we hear the pickle ball
thing we hear it and we hear it over and
over again um and and we and parks are
are trying to accommodate those requests
too so thank you council member tilki
thanks mayor uh with that I'll make a
motion to approve item 9 resolution
number
4487 approving the Northwest Gilbert
Redevelopment area boundry I second that
I have a motion by council member tilki
seconded by council member Buckley
please vote
and that motion passes
60 congratulations Economic Development
it's a long time coming appreciate all
the work that you've done on this and we
are going to recess for a few
minutes
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okay 10 seconds everybody take your
seats
please okay next up on our agenda I'll
call this meeting back to order next up
on our agenda is item number 10 code of
Gilbert um did we want a presentation on
this did you have some questions for
staff or did you just want to have a
discussion no I I'm mov to make a motion
oh no actually somebody asked to speak
about this one and I actually have two
two members of the public that would
like to speak um mayor I don't need a
presentation I just wanted to make a
couple comments before I make a motion
okay I'll open the public hearing on
item 10 I will I have two slips from
residents that would like to speak um I
have Doris if you would like to come
down first Doris Liz and then Chris
lindall on Deck Chris lindall on Deck I
still haven't figured out which button
it is to release one of those two
buttons there you go thank you good
evening again um I just have a couple
quick questions uh regarding it um HOAs
I have property with HOAs my question is
uh will this affect the HOAs and will
they be accountable even if the it's not
within their HOA guidelin l or whatever
it is my second question is I think the
mayor brought it up one time about
someone looking over on a two-story
house and looking over if you could just
touch on the um the height requirement
if there is one and how that will affect
the residents and that's it thank you so
your question door leas before you run
away because I can talk to you during
public hearing um so your question is if
I own a two-story house and you own a
one-story house and I can see into your
backyard would you be able to call code
enforcement on items like that is that
good yeah you don't really like my yards
so yes okay but I got your question in a
nutshell thank you um would staff like
to come up well let me do the next
person coming up to speak thanks and the
HOA somebody write those questions down
so you can answer them thank you sorry I
have a cracker in my hand sorry um next
up to speak Chris lindall thank you
Chris sorry I'm getting a little wacky
tonight good evening mayor and members
of the council my name is name is Chris
lindall I live at 1199 South Park Grove
Court here in
Gilbert uh I'm here to talk about uh
this ordinance in opposition to it
because up until this point in time I've
been able to have a project car in my
backyard and per my reading of this
document that will no longer be allowed
so my son and I won't be able to build a
car in our backyard or restore a car in
our backyard that's per my understanding
because that probably will take a lot
more than 15 days which is all that this
document
provides um the second point I have is
that inspections to the backyards and
potentially Home Interiors are triggered
it's my understanding uh by a complaint
from a neighbor with visibility of the
backyard in question being allowed from
a secondstory window next door that is
my
understanding um I have a walled and
gated fully enclosed backyard but that
won't protect me if I have a two-story
home next door from
visibility um I'm wondering how this is
uh in conformance with section 42-
321d in this document which says it's in
conformance with the Arizona and US
Constitution uh I see this as being a
form of violation of the Fourth
Amendment freedom from protection of
illegal searches and
seizures um um because a complaint a
single complaint does not fall under the
same standards that um say the police
wanted to serve a warrant they would
have a process they'd have to go through
it would take a lot more than one person
complaining about it in order for that
to happen there would have to be
probable cause there would be number of
things that would be implemented before
a judge would Grant a policeman a
warrant to search a house but that's not
in this document and it also includes in
this document the ability for that
inspector to expand their um search or
review of what's going on based on their
own
assessment uh that does not seem to me
to be fair and respectful to the
residents of the
Town um section 42-
322 notes that the town is not required
to notify an owner of a violation which
I thought was quite
strange uh but I'll read it to you here
upon inspection if the town finds a
violation of this ordinance the town May
notify the owner owner's agent or
responsible party through the issuance
of a notice of violation if a notice of
violation is issued it shall include and
then it lists several
criteria uh in that same section item
number c says nothing in this section
shall require the issuance of a
notification or violation prior to the
commencement of a civil violation
procedure so the town could proceed with
the Civil violation about my backyard
without notifying me I if my reading is
correct uh last point I wanted to make
was my HOA currently has no authority to
police what goes on in my backyard
uh if approved this proposed ordinance
will effectively enable the town's Code
Compliance Department to serve as an
enforcement arm of HOAs expanding their
reach beyond what is granted by the ccnr
that I signed when I moved into my
home uh the last thing I'd like to add
is if
Council proceeds with approving this
document there are few things that I
would respectfully request be added to
them in section 42- 317b it notes that
um uh neatly stacked Lumber is allowed I
would request that neatly stacked bricks
and neatly stacked ceramic tile be added
to that list of allowed things for
future landscape project in my own
backyard I'd also request that to be
included uh a list of exempt items which
are okay in the backyard so therefore no
not not subject to someone's
interpretation things like a lawn mower
wheelbarrows lawn tools ladders tree
trimmers that sort of thing thank you
for your time I appreciate you giving it
to me Chris can I ask you one question
before you step away certainly do you
have two story houses around you both
sides thank you lucky me me too thank
you can I have someone from staff come
up and address some of those concerns
and questions please I saw you back
there
deliberating mayor and Council good
evening um yes we've got quite the team
that's worked on this um folks from Code
Compliance planning legal department um
even Economic Development we've all um
put our heads together and worked on
this for quite a while um the first
question um HOA will they be accountable
so the town does not um enforce ccnr uh
HOAs are still um responsible for any
type of violation that they would with
the CC andrs it's not the town's intent
to to become an arm of the HOA um in any
given way shape or form in fact we've
even added some language into this
document that talks about the intent of
the document is for HOAs to be the first
line of defense if there are CCR
problems and then the town would um
enforce our our code
requirements um the question about um
somebody looking down from a second
story um window into somebody's backyard
um yes that that is the code is written
that that could be a um a complaint that
could be filed with the town um
especially if there are and you can
remember some of those pictures there
are lots of litter and um junk and trash
and cars and everything else um we don't
want to uh end up with a lot of um a lot
of issues or problems so the way we did
write this as it could be now one thing
I will say is it is also discretionary
Upon Our Code Compliance guys so Code
Compliance men and women excuse me um
when they are on site they they can make
some of those judgment calls and they
have a little bit of discretion in what
they're doing and what what they're
actually um enforcing and and writing
violations on Kyle can we go one at a
time instead of and I hate to interrupt
you but so the mic comes on so my
concern would be and Chris gave a
perfect example a project car versus a
hoarder that has a car that's a mess in
their
backyard so code enforcement would have
discretion right and the way the code is
written right now you can't have one car
in the backyard um and work on it um
there's a difference between an operable
and inoperable vehicle um but again if
there's to your point if there's one car
back there and there's lots of other
litter or or issues that's a problem if
somebody's got a car in the backyard
that they're working on with their son
that is not going to be a problem as
long as the the rest of the property is
in is in good shape so it's almost like
a cumulative effect if the if the yard
is also strewn with other items plus the
cars back there and parts and stacked
wood and all kinds of other things that
that would be the discretion of Code
Enforcement correct can can we take a
couple of minutes and show us some of
those pictures so the public can see
what talking presentation with you to
show some of those photos and um may
members if I just may clarify um the
actual draft of this code is silent as
to neighbors looking in uh second floor
neighbors looking in um it wouldn't
prohibit that and I imagine that um
that's how we would uh the town would
receive complaints uh because there
would be no other way we would as a town
we wouldn't be able to inspect um the
backyard without their consent or some
type of court or administrative warrant
and those protections are um encoded in
this draft so I just wanted to clarify
that Thanks Elena um is one of our town
attorneys that's getting pulled up if I
could just add in that
42321 subsection D says um and that's
the authority and inspection section it
says all inp ction shall be conducted in
compliance with the Constitutions of the
United States and the State of Arizona
Fourth Amendment absolutely does apply
the town would have to comply with the
Fourth Amendment if they're going to do
inspections inside a
backyard and in aot in most cases I
would say I mean I couldn't see over
somebody's fence it would have to come
from something above I'm too short again
D sorry short people I would not be able
to see over somebody's block wall into
their back backyard so it would most
likely come from a neighbor looking in
from a second
story a lot of times maybe but this is
this is why we're looking at this kind
of a situation Chris see this photo
right here because of a situation like
this which would be more of a cumulative
effect like I just mentioned where you
have I would say an inoperable car and
strewn with all kinds of other junk that
code enforcement would take all of that
into consideration not just a a vehicle
that you would be potentially working on
I can have you talk to staff but I can't
have you come back up if that makes
sense Kyle
next um mayor I think those were all of
the questions if I wrote them down
correct so um Chris also mentioned this
Chris mentioned um does it pertain to
like lawn equipment or it says neatly
stacked wood I think his exact example
was but what if you have neatly stacked
cement blocks because you have a future
project going on in your yard and your
neighbor calls because they don't like
your stock blocks in your backyard right
again a lot of it's going to be
discretion if if an inspector comes to
the the property and sees this this is
not neatly stacked and um in good
working condition as I understand it
Chris has a um pad or two in the
backyard concrete pad um which he would
park the cars on and in our discussions
that would be that would be fine I don't
we don't see that there would be any any
issues with that and so to just follow
up with what I would probably be
thinking if I was Chris and asking the
questions that he did um if code
enforcement gets a complaint and they
come out to the property how do they
actually go about seeing the backyard
right I'm going to ask Lori to come up
and talk about it um she Lori dioro yes
she's uh in charge of our Code
Compliance team so she will have a
better handle on it than I would well
then I'm glad I asked the question
because you stuck around till 9:16 so
you can answer something
Lori thank you mayor council members
good evening speak up to the mic okay
please thank you it's the first time I'm
here for this this actually um venue um
as well as what we currently have to
look at when we receive a complaint it's
through consent or warrant so if the
resident on the adjacent property is
consenting to allow us to view the
violation that's potentially the issue
as always and
you've known me for as long as I've been
a supervisor over code
enforcement um we have great discretion
when it comes down to specific
situations we work with residents on a
daily basis when it comes down to
violations and um specifically when it
comes down to an inoperable vehicle if
there are extenuating circumstances we
will surely always work with the
resident on a reasonable time frame to
get that vehicle either in the garage
out of sight or operable so extensions
are just part of what we do thanks Lori
I appreciate that and I have known you
for I think as long as you've worked
here with the town of Gilbert you come
with great experience and I I don't
think I've ever had a complaint about
any of the work that you've done so I
appreciate that from that perspective
any other questions or comments for
staff while they
here than counc M tilki thanks um mayor
um I know that you guys have put a lot
of time in this and I appreciate all of
that um you know I had some concerns
from the beginning as some of our
residents have um expressed um it is our
culture in development services to um
react to complaints not go out and
proactively look for them and uh I I
believe even with this in force that
that will continue
um we're also um asking that the um
staff brings us a report every three
months for the first year so that we can
identify if there's anything in this
ordinance that isn't working and that
will give the um public an opportunity
to let us know it's not working and so
that gives with that assurance that
gives me more uh comfort and approving
this ordinance um I just wanted to
mention I I see that when we if we make
a motion to approve there's a whole
thing and I'm hoping we're going to put
it up on the screen instead of write uh
reading it all and expecting everybody
to remember it but um the uh I
appreciate the addition of the intent as
it relates to HOAs that was a concern of
mine is that all of a sudden the HOAs
don't have to accommodate any complaints
within their Community they'll just turn
it over to the town so I appreciate that
and um we've also included um that the
town a Gilbert is not exempt from being
the good neighbor in this ordinance as
well and that that was important to me
so thank you
um as an aside just because I I know
once we vote we're done with the topic
um one of the things I noticed and and
staff's not going to be surprised that
I'm asking for this but I want um to
know if the council agrees with it um we
had the ordinance and then we had a
study session so we got the strike
through and the caps but when we got the
changes based on our input there was no
designation of what those changes were
and unfortunately I didn't have my notes
with me and I couldn't find the sections
because you know I'm very good at
outlining the sections and all of that
but um so I I had to keep reading it and
reading it to try to find if the
comments that I wanted in there and it
was just my fault but I'm I'm just
wondering if the just kind of as a
direction that um when we have changes
made at a study session that it's
highlighted in the packet so it's very
easy for us to find those in the future
instead of having to read the entire
document compare it to any notes that I
might have and so it can be in yellow I
don't care but at least we know that
something's been changed so if there I
just thought if no if nobody else wants
that but me I'll just be the only one
asking for it every time from the staff
but oh thank you that's a great point
and I think staff will take that note
moving forward so that especially when
it's something that we do at study
session when we get to study session a
lot of times the first time we're seeing
the document is at study session and so
if we're sitting there talking through
changes that we would like to see it's
hard to maybe track all of those when we
come back weeks and sometimes months
later with an amendment and so um that's
a great Point council member tki did you
have more questions for Kyle cuz he's
standing here you have any questions for
staff are we good with questions for
staff Kyle thank you very much yes mayor
the only one thing I wanted to add is
there is on the Das tonight a couple
little changes that we found and that's
what council member Tikki was referring
to and asked if it could be put up on
the screen so thank you if we could just
leave that right there thank you Kyle
thank you I'm going to go ahead and
close the public hearing and bring it
back to the dis for
discussion mayor
yes something like this
uh well I can understand a need
certainly you look at one of those
pictures it's that's actually a fire
hazard I mean that's just that's bad but
when it comes to I know it when I see it
and
discretion I have a problem with that
and and and I don't know if I can quite
get over it because I understand the
intent and there's a need but at the
same time we're relying on a certain
amount of discretion somebody's
interpretation of I know it when I see
it I mean that was that was the Supreme
Court Justice that said that uh Potter
Stewart
I it's hard for me to
to to just say yes what is it you're you
know you're I'm okay with your decision
on what this is I'm okay you see it and
you feel that uh I have a hard time
turning that power away from the the
property owner away from us over to a a
code enforcer and giving them that
responsibility and if we were to do so I
would really think that having some sort
of sunset claw like true Sunset Clause
where it's truly reviewed to see if it's
been abused complaints anything like
that cuz I certainly wouldn't want to
live next to that photo and I have
probably the only twostory house for
quite a bit in my neighborhood but at
the same
time one man's junks another Man's
Treasure and I have a hard time
inflicting my own uh desire I don't have
a junk car out there I have a junk car
in my in my shop but I don't have it in
my backyard and uh I I have a hard time
with that and if we're going to do
something like this I really want to see
it with some sort of of sunset so we can
and continually with that so it's so we
look and see if it's being abused if we
have problems with people that are it's
taken out of context it's taken too far
uh I don't want people to have to come
back in 3 years and have be getting sued
for it if that makes sense to
you so I guess my follow up to your
comments
um we have different groups within the
community within our town staff that it
really is primarily their job to be
discretionary right I would say police
and fire to a point they are trained to
do things the way that they do things
but they have discretion and we even put
that in place with our unruly Gathering
ordinance I would say they have
discretion on how that moves forward
right so I think we're saying the same
thing about code enforcement and it's
something that they do and have done
every single day in Gilbert complaint
based so this isn't code enforcement
going out looking for these issues
this is somebody has reported these
issues to code enforcement and then they
go out and use their discretion so I I
agree with you
that this is an unusual situation and
new for us especially in Gilbert and I'm
never the one to want to put
requirements in place but because of the
extreme situations that I've seen over
the past eight years in the community we
need something with teeth to it and the
backyard that we saw is I'm sure a
perfect example of that right um we saw
lots of photos there that are just I
think we were all surprised at but I
know that they exist within the
community and we have neighbors that
have struggled with having these
situations beside them behind them close
to their property fire hazards health
hazards rats all kinds of situations so
I would not like to impose a sunset but
I would definitely say and I think
council member tilki brought this up is
this needs to come back with a review
and data and information to the council
and if we want to say that 6 months from
now let's do a six-month checkup once
this goes into effect let's do a
six-month check-in with Council to see
what the calls have looked like what the
response has been if we're going to get
complaints we've given out our addresses
to everybody for them to write to us to
be able to do that so over and over
again tonight right um so I would like
to maybe do it for from that perspective
mayor I just wanted to mention that
during the study s session I believe we
agreed every 3 months and that way we're
on top of it a little more timely for
the first year I thought there was a
review I'm sorry I couldn't remember
that there's too many topics sometimes
and so three months so we' see put this
into effect if this passes tonight put
this into effect have them come back in
three months that would be this seven
people to review this for the first time
and then maybe go three months out from
there but I I see what I'm saying about
we do have other departments in this
community that are working on a
discretionary basis and we're putting
them in that place the enly Gathering is
a perfect example of that in my
opinion any other comment vice mayor
just a reminder that again that we're a
maturing Community we need tools this is
a tool um I once served as a Zing
administrator with the responsibility
that the Lori has right now to supervise
code enforcement the first priority is
to work with a property owner and try
and get things worked out um and without
even having to use tools like this um I
know Lori does that uh quite often
trying to work out and resolve issues
before they nobody wants to take anybody
to court um and this is a tool that will
just help it's almost The Last Resort
really when we get to using this uh as
an enforcement tool but um I'm impressed
with the way our code enforcement works
right now in trying to help the property
owner versus trying to challenge the
property owner and I I appreciate that
and I like the idea of bringing it back
and
reviewing thank you any other
comments would anyone like to attempt a
motion and the motion is going to
include what we have here on the
screen okay mayor I'll do the
um uh before I do that um could we ask
staff to follow up with Chris he had
several concerns and I'd really like you
know you to have a talk with them and
make sure that we address all of those
thank you um so with that I'll try to
make this motion
um I'd like to approve item 10 the coda
Gilbert um Community preservation
ordinance with the Amendments as listed
on the
screen I don't need to read them if I do
that right I I think they've been up
there long enough everybody
can that one Niner one one the two at
the very top the two bullet point uh
actually the first bullet point and the
second bullet
point starting with page four strike
okay what's on the screen or what's on
my paper I think it's the same thing um
does she need to read it or can we just
say as presented this evening I think
that's fine okay I think thank you as
presented this evening and noted on the
the screen um with uh the addition of a
report every 3 months for the first
year second yeah I have a motion by
council member tilki seconded by vice
mayor Anderson please vote
motion passes
51 next item on our agenda is item
number 10 I asked to pull this I'll call
the I'll open the public hearing close
the public hearing thank you team thank
you for your work on this um I'll open
the public hearing I don't have any
public I don't have any com mayor 10 10
a sorry 10 just clarify thank you sorry
it's getting late 10A um an agreement um
consider adoption of ordinance number
2909 approving IAL services employment
agreement number 32400 451 appointing
Lauren Ramirez as judge in the Gilbert
Municipal Court effect of July 8th 2024
um any discussion or anything I just
wanted to make a comment about this I'll
close the public hearing bringing it
back to the Das I just wanted to say
that um Lauren Ramirez is a
an an amazing attribute to our court
system and for us to be able to bring
this forward and to bring her on as a
judge at this point in time is is uh was
very important and I
know I know judge kutchen called me
because they're all gone to a conference
and he felt bad that they wouldn't be
here and he's going to actually thank me
because it's 9:31 at night and they
probably didn't want to have to sit here
the whole entire time for us to bring
this forward and I just wanted to say
thank you to judge kutchen for bringing
this to our attention thank you for the
to the council for um looking at this
option and um I would like to make a
motion to pass this agreement ordinance
number
2909 I'll second that I have a motion by
the mayor and seconded by councilman ran
Giovani please
vote and that passes 60o and I want to
say congratulations to judge Lauren
Ramirez thank you Chris for that work
for the work on that too that will end
our public hearing items and move us to
the consent calendar vice mayor it's all
yours thank you mayor we have several
items to be pulled item 14 will
pull item
24 item 25
C and item 31 was postponed so that's
not
included so my motion be to approve
items 11 through
13 15-
19 20 through
23 25 A and
B and D and
E 26 through
29
30 and 32 through
36 that's
it so I have a motion as stated by the
vice
mayor anybody like to make a
motion um you need to second the motion
council member I second second the
motion Sor a motion by the vice mayor
seconded by council member Buckley
please
vote motion passes 6 Z Item 14
councilman
torguson you know uh the first thing I
want to say is I I very much believe in
the program that being done down there
for a wayfinder system I believe that
the people that work on this project
have done a great job uh I have a
problem with the dollar figure attached
to it it has some it's because it's my
field of expertise and uh in discussion
with Patrick and the people in uh
Redevelopment uh I think in the future
it'll it'll be handled slightly
differently but for that reason I am
opposing number 14 while recognizing
they've done a great job but I cannot in
good conscience approve that dollar
figure thank
you would anyone like to make a motion
on item number
14 oh did Vice may but you still have
your mic on from okay that's I sorry I
just assumed I have a comment and
question um
ask M tus and if you you feel this is
way out of line how long would it take
for a process to get another bid
or take a look at this
cost
um I think that's more of a staff
question than a me question uh I think
they did it according to the rules that
are in front of them uh I think they did
it to the best of their knowledge I
uh so in no way shape or form do I want
this to reflect on staff but it is
something to do with our process it's
something to do with maybe having some
subject matter experts assist further
than they have in the in processes like
this and I I I really don't feel like
casting any aspirion that young lady up
there worked very hard and it's not it's
not her fault that she's not a subject
matter expert it's not she's great I I
think she does does great work so I I'm
just voting no on the dollar figure it's
not to do anything with the project or
the people
involved hi
Sydney thank you for coming down would
you like to add anything it's not
necessary but just wanted to give you
the
option yes just was going to answer um
council member Bon giovan's question so
mayor Peterson council member Bon
Giovani so um this followed the
traditional RFP process and it took
about 2 months um from when it was
originally posted to coming before you
tonight so a similar type of process to
get on account agenda and it would be a
little bit more delayed due to the break
in July um would be expected for another
RFP process if that were to be another
option thanks Sydney um I and I I know
council member tarus and your feelings
on this I I was so thankful to finally
see wayfinding signs on an agenda
tonight because I've been asking for
this for years we've been talking about
it for years and to have to delay it
another two three four months is
because once they get made then it's
installing them we know every delay
causes more delays and that's just my
feeling so if if anyone would like to I
will move to approve item number 14 and
the service agreement that was presented
to us this
evening mayor I'll second that thank you
I have a motion by the mayor seconded by
council member tilky please vote
motion passes 51 and I want to say thank
you council member torguson for being a
subject matter expert on this and for
bringing it to staff's attention and
hoping to create a better process in the
future for the next set of way finding
because this is phase one so there'll be
more phases coming up vice mayor item 24
council member
torison I I would like staff to to make
a small presentation here and a lot of
it is for the Public's benefit because
this did as we spoke yesterday this
started out at $60 million when it was
first brought up and even still brought
to people's attention a year and a half
ago at 60 65 million and we're looking
at approximately $112
million and I want the the information
brought public awesome can you hear me
all right uh Council M torus we
appreciate the opportunity and mayor
council to present um kind of what we've
put together thus far for the aao um
Bridge Project or as we see here the oao
Road Greenfield to Higley
project um so just a brief project
description just to kind of outl where
this where this project lies so
basically this project is on OAA Road in
between Greenfield Road and Higley Road
um this will be basically a roadway
extension incorporating four different
Bridge structures within this area
um including Roosevelt Water
Conservation District East Maricopa
flood Way Chandler Heights Regional
Basin and Queen Creek wash so just an
important note to make this is four
different structures it's not just one
Bridge um so there's there's a lot more
extensive work when you do
that so the project why um so the number
one that we have on the project Y is
improving Public Safety So currently you
can see the map down below and that's
our fire and police are the times
currently because you can't access from
Higley Road to Greenfield currently and
vice versa from Greenfield Road to
Higley Road there's no way um to make it
across that so they have to go around to
be able to get across this this Corridor
they have to go around um for those
Services um in addition it's the
connectivity so they kind of go hand
inand but trying to create that
connectivity not only for Gilbert but
you have Queen Creek residents um that
are coming along this Corridor to be
able to access
um across this
Corridor so just some history and
timeline um just for the council update
on this so it's been a while um since
we've and new council members to be able
to have the opportunity to discuss some
timelines so historically this this
started in 2010 with Gilbert um it did
start in 2000 with Maricopa County they
did a study years ago U but in in
Gilbert it was identified in 2010
um picked it back up around
2017 with an assessment that we
presented and more so aesthetically of
what this bridge could look like um
about the same time as the the master
plan for the park started getting
established so we were starting to gain
ground and get a little bit more
information so fast forward to June 2021
this is kind of when we kicked the
project off um for design
phase um November 2021 we we our funding
was secured with our Transportation um
Bond and then January to August 2022 the
bridge athetic stakeholder and public
engagement um was the core the time
frame that we were starting to to really
be active in those things um just the
Stars here represent the different touch
points that we had with Council um so
January February 2022 Town Council
Aesthetics discussions happen so
basically we started with 20 28
different options of what this bridge
could look like um so we wanted toing
bring all this information to the
council um provide any feedback that
we've received um and continue moving
forward with uh mostly the Aesthetics
the bridge was kind of okay the bridge
is what it is but the Aesthetics is the
piece that we really needed some
feedback to make sure we're heading in
the right direction and then may of 2022
we had a study session with the Town
Council gave them an update um because
we're continuing to evolving with all
the different stakeholder meetings and
moving forward with the different
options and then again August 2022 we
had another town Council study session
um again just updating the Council on
our progress with the project keeping
them updated on where we where we've
been and where we're going and then
September 22 we had the 30% design and
then kind of a really important date for
us was November 2022 so we had a value
engineering meeting at that time but
okay here's here's where we're at with
the budget here's where we're at with
schedule um we had an opportunity to go
through this workshop with all the major
stakeholders in the town of Gilbert um
with the Town manager's office and we
were able to actually dig deep into this
with the contractor it was a three-day
workshop and really uh Define and refine
kind of where we were at um see where
there was value within this project if
there was opportunities to um to be able
to cut scope or add scope whatever was
deemed necessary from that meeting and
we'll kind of dive into that a little
bit more um during the
presentation and then January 2024 we
came back to the Town Council again with
another another study session
again updating the Council on where
we've been and kind of where we're where
we're heading and um continuing on to
currently I think the design was
actually completed sometime in april-ish
um but here we are in June coming to the
council that the design is complete and
ready to move on to the construction
phase of the
project and our project goal so we
established this at the very beginning
it's kind of unique um to a process that
we typically follow in Gilbert so we
started we called it a value analysis
Workshop so the same the same players
were involved in that so we brought them
on very early and kind of came up with
our project goals so we wanted to
understand all the different
stakeholders the owners of what what the
project goals are so during the the
entire design process we're making
decisions based off of these project
goals and as you can see multimodal we
want to make sure there's different
types of opportunity for transportation
across this Corridor budget budget and
schedule constraints um iconic was the
word that was given to us by management
to make sure this isn't just an ordinary
bridge and so um we want to make sure
that it does have iconic that this is a
des a place of destination not a place
of just people going from point A to
point B um improve Public Safety and
response times we discussed that um
activate and enable a trail system so we
have the opportunity also with a future
Gilbert Regional Park that will be
underneath this bridge we have
opportunities to to have more
connectivity within our trail system
within this Corridor um we have a flood
flood plane underneath us we have uh I
think two different um we have the flood
control and also Queen Creek wash so we
have restrictions that we have to
maintain those flood areas and so that's
was an important goal to the team to
make sure we we keep that goal and keep
be able to maintain that ability for
these to to have the flood plan planes
um improv traffic safety and circulation
in in South Gilbert just want to
continue that and that's connectivity we
talked about earlier to to continue to
be able to move through from aao to or
from Greenfield to Higley and then
integration and access within Gilbert
Regional Park so this is a big piece
that really turned with this project
from being just a just an ordinary
Bridge from point A to point B that we
have a future Park that we now have to
provide Ingress egress in for the future
users of the park especially special
events anybody that's been down to the
Parker around the 4th of July um there's
hour weights to try to get out of there
so this is another um connection Point
into AAA road to allow um traffic to
flow through here a little more
fluidly um this is just as a um
theoretical to look at what the costs
were when we started in 2021 so as you
can see this this is an accurate number
2021 was 54 million
so that's that was before we got much of
a a design at that point we just started
this is kind of a thought where this
dollar number came from and if we use
the index here you see on the left if we
were to calculate that based off of we
what we've seen in the increase of that
index it'd be $103 million so we were
able to get under that just pure off of
off of this index but that's just an
idea to show the council that just based
off of the material index increase that
this bridge increased from 54 million to
103 million potentially using just the
index
alone so part of that um November 22nd
that I said earlier value engineering
Workshop we were able to shave off
approximately 9.5 million off of the um
estimation from the contractor at that
point and so just some of these some of
these items you can see here on the
right um the prefab pedestrian bridge
was probably one of the a really
important part so was shortening the
bridge so I'll probably focus on those
two a little bit so the prefab
originally the Aesthetics was not
structurally integrated into the bridge
itself um so we looked at the cost that
the Aesthetics was going to cost and it
was way too high just for an Aesthetics
feature and so we were able to separate
that from the actual Bridge itself and
have a um secondary I guess you can say
Bridge as for The Pedestrian access on
both sides and that was integrated
structurally into the bridge So Not only
was aesthetically but it actually had
some structural components um to be able
to not spend so much money just on
Aesthetics but actually have something
that it's improving um the second piece
was shortening the park Bridge so there
was a section um through that value
engineering Workshop that just basically
showed that there's kind of a I
shouldn't say useless space because it
was a little long but we talked with
Park and parks and wreck about the
Future Park we said if we shorten this x
amount of feet we could save $3.5
million and is there value in US doing
that and it doesn't affect the usability
of that space for the future and they
said no it doesn't affect that and so we
were able to shave off again another 3.5
million to that based off of that um
meeting and and basically what I'm we're
trying to to convey is there was a lot
of there was a lot of back and forth on
this um we'll go into a little more
detail on future slides but we hired a
third party um estimator for at least
the last 12 months for 30 60 90 we were
going line item by line item and trying
to see where there's savings that we can
find and so um we understand this is a
big number and um we've tried everything
in our power to get this to a point that
we feel comfortable and confident moving
forward and bringing it tonight in front
of the
council um so just to dive in a little
bit more details between the, 1600%
design so we went from 104 million um
cost estimate um from last year to 112
million so just some of this changed so
we had 7.5 million which is a 7.2%
increase um from our
60% and then our part of that was scope
refinement which is 6.6 million which is
6.3 I'll get back to that a little bit
because there's a little there's some
information in there that's that's
that's hard to share so I'll try to do
it um try to help understand that
escalation is probably not quite the
right word here but there was 900,000
for sub supplier pricing and basically
what that is during the 60% design um as
a contractor you're not going to get all
your subs on board at 60% design because
it's going to cost money by doing that
and so we get what's called a plug
number U we work with the subcontractor
and just give them some information we
try to get a plug number that may be
close to that 60% it's really hard to do
that so basically that plug number that
came in um when the final we got closer
to final plans and the contractor was
able to establish subcontractors on this
that number came in 900,000 increase
from the plug numbers that were in there
in from the last estimate so just a um
try to understand that and then the
other piece is this this 6.6 million so
this was scope refinement so this wasn't
in the 60% design um so if we want to
talk about escalation or inflation
there's numbers built into that number
um but it's hard to know what that is
because we didn't have a number at the
60% for some of these items so this was
we refin scope to understand some of the
additional needs as we further got into
design we would understood we need to
take to add some additional scope to
this project um and again some of these
things on the on to the right is soil
remediation um the shade
canopies um Bridge foundations we need
to be a little deeper and the aesthetic
sliding so we put on here enhanced
durability so really this this is a
robust lighting system to make sure it's
not going to break we went as far as um
meeting out in the field taking a
baseball bat and see if it would break
and so we want to make sure that these
are going to be durable they're going to
last and the maintenance is going to be
less money in the future to be able to
um make sure that we don't have the
vandalism problems and different things
within this area so that's where you're
seeing some of the increase um on the
Aesthetics
lighting and just a little bit more
detail this is more than a bridge so it
come it comes back to all these
different elements that um are part of
this from there's two different there's
two different tra traffic signals um one
is a hawk the hawk Crossing and then one
is a true traffic signal that'll be on
the bridge there's also higgle road that
we're doing some um it wasn't originally
part of the scope on Higgly road but we
started looking at it and said okay if
we build this beautiful Bridge we have
all this access coming off the bridge
and higgle road is two lanes Northbound
so we want to make sure that we're
fixing the potential issues in the
future so we we refine the scope and put
additional Lanes heading Northbound on
Higley Road so that created additional
scope um 69 kV line relocation so this
is if you want to say the word iconic
this is the first time srps ever allowed
their facilities to go through a bridge
um so this is this is it was quite quite
the chore to go through this process and
we're we're still going through it um
but that that was a huge piece to this
puzzle because we have this beautiful
iconic bridge and then you have these
big 69 KV poles going right through it
so you want to make sure that that
wasn't an ice or so we decided we don't
want to go underground with them because
if you go underground and something
happens they have to tear up the park um
so the best option was to go through the
bridge and that was srp's subc
consultant that came up with that that
that was the best option to do
um anything else that I missed here um
and really I think the the the big piece
that we need that I think the council
would like to understand is um we are
this bridge is Preparatory for the park
so we are we are building the access
road out to a certain point um we're
extending water lines sewer lines
reclaimed lines um SRP lines we're
extending all these out so when the
Future Park does come in they just
connect to those points they don't have
to touch the bridge they don't have to
redo anything on the bridge um and we've
been coordinating with the the current
designer on that making sure we have all
of our pieces together um and so again
this is this is more than a bridge
so next steps there is again two stars
here so June 2024 here we are today GMP
number two to to um proposing for the
council to approve this to move forward
for to construction um July I'm sorry 69
KV relocation underway So currently SRP
is on site right now um removing some of
these 69 KV poles to get them out of the
way to build the bridge um and that's
important because SRP is committed to
moving forward to hit our schedule so we
can make sure sure that we that there
the facilities are out of our way that
we can actually start building the
bridge and what they're doing is
basically just um putting a temporary
facilities up out of the way of the
bridge and then we're going to be
building the conduits and everything
within the bridge so then the SRP will
have the ability to pull wire through
the bridge um July 18th 2024 this will
be the second Another Touch point on
this project this will be our
groundbreaking event um you should be
getting some invitations if you haven't
already for um this this event to be
able to have our
groundbreaking and then July 2026 is our
tenative completion date we're hoping to
to beat the Fourth of July to have this
completed by that point but again we're
hoping it'll be sooner than that but
that's kind of our tentative
schedule and then lastly is just the
project importance is it's all about
Connections so connections between our
Public Safety and residents who call in
their hour of need connections between
our community and their park and
connections from our community to
neighboring communities um so with that
that is the end of the presentation
thanks Ryan any com any questions
council member banani thank you mayor um
so I've had people come up to me and ask
me why don't we just wait two years
because everything should be cheaper in
two years can you talk to us about that
absolutely um yeah so um that's a great
question and what we've
seen um we've met with a handful of
contractors not just on this project
additional uh projects as well um we are
estimating currently that it's between 7
and 10% of the escalation costs continue
into FY or FY 26 and so by pushing this
out we don't know what that number is
going to be but if you put 7.7 or 10% on
top of 112 million in weight for a year
or two this could continue to rise and
get more expensive and so that is
something we've looked at we've track of
through the entire project to see where
this thing is heading um unfortunately
we don't know what that future looks
like um but we do have a future park
that's coming in and this bridge is a
critical path for that Park and so
that's why the timing and schedule is
critical right now thank
you thanks Ryan um I know how critical
it is for Gilbert Fire to be able to
access the residents over there that's
one of the biggest issues that we've
heard and I actually know somebody that
lives on aao on the North side and they
had an issue at their home and Chandler
fire responded and Gilbert Fire
responded from someplace else and um she
has a kangaroo or WABE on her property
so there were pictures on social media
that's how I knew about it but it's a
perfect example of we built this great
fire station right there to the East and
they can't access all of those residents
to the West there on acao and I know
that people are concerned with the
aesthetic to build a
bridge without
it being look looking nice would cost us
almost as much right we're getting this
aesthetic but it's going to be a focal
point in this community and especially
when you're down there at Gilbert
Regional Park this is what you're going
to see and I Envision families taking
Family Photos down there I Envision prom
kids going down to take prom photos and
seniors taking their senior photos on
this bridge I I look at like tempy Town
Lake and the bridge that they have that
goes over temp Town Lake which is
beautiful facility so we have to look
past the fact that this is just a bridge
for vehicles which is going to access
provide so many access points to the
park at the same time and um and
unfortunately the longer we wait the
more it costs right now and I don't
think we're looking at anything coming
down anytime soon council member tilki
thank you mayor um Ryan that was a great
presentation um I really appreciate the
time that you all put into that value
engineering Ing and um the the amount of
money that you were saving but also
looking at the future um and and many of
those um items that you mentioned so I
wasn't going to need a presentation
today but I'm very happy that you did
that and that the public got to hear it
so thank you councilman torus torguson
for asking for that council member
torguson I I appreciate the time you
took with me earlier in the week uh
because it is a larger scope than what
I previously interpreted it to be uh and
to see the value engineering involved in
there everything else it's unfortunately
we're in a time where the costs of
bringing construction to fruition have
increase so dramatically whether it be
building a you could build a small
school somewhere and you're paying $360
a square foot where five years ago was
$200
um how having to swallow the hard pill
of of construction inflation and seeing
I believe you said it was
7.7% is ex is expected for next year
yeah so that was that was that was on
this particular project that we received
but we received other areas from five to
over
10% okay well thank you for taking the
time because I know it took a long time
to put this together and to to deal with
me for for a while the other day so
thank you no we we appreciate it we've
been putting this together for about
three years so we appreciate this
opportunity um vice mayor Ryan thank you
um will this have any impact on other
projects in our
CIP um so there there is um from the
from the 2022 Geo bonds perspective um
all of the money has been allocated
clear out to I believe FY if Kelly was
here FY 26 I believe or 27 so all the
projects have been allocated so we did
have to move two additional projects out
to Future years to be able to have the
contingency funds that's requested
tonight um and so that's we added a
little extra just in case for future as
well I believe those those projects came
out to around 22 million that we we
moved to Outer year so we able to
utilize 12 million that was tonight on
another project as well um so we still
have a saving I shouldn't say savings
but we have the opportunity for another
contingency Crest if needed that we
don't have to move another project out
unless it exceeds that amount can you
tell me what those two projects are oh
you're going to use my brain here um so
one uh one project was the uh posos Road
from Val Vista to
Lindsay and that's a reconstruction of
the roadway within that Corridor um so I
drove the corridor we looked at it and
and and it's aging but at the same time
um Phil confident that that could be
pushed out to a later date yeah um and
then the other one was
um trying to remember uh safety around
schools and I know that sounds horrible
um but that was pushed out because we're
still um contemplating a grant within
these areas we put together a study and
an assessment um and it's been in that
money's been in there for several years
why we still look at opportunities for
this and so we don't see in talking to
traffic engineering we don't see a h a
huge need currently at these locations
um to try to push this forward sooner
than later and so this was another
project that we were able to to push out
into outer Years thank
you Council mayor
Buckley um I just wanted to say thank
you for the presentation I I've been
following this bridge since you probably
started about three years ago and uh
definitely followed it through my
campaign and I'm excited I'm really
excited to see this and I live 2 miles
away from where this bridge is going to
be and so I think and and I agree with
the mayor that I think it's it's going
to be a beautiful centerpiece or or
focal point for all the residents and
for the town so thank you guys very much
you're
welcome um thank you for the
presentation oh counc member bani thank
you I I'm just hoping that uh in the
year 2030 4 on July 4th when we're
watching the fireworks and I'm walking
across this bridge and telling my
grandson which I don't have yet to say
you know we only Built This thing for
112 million when it would cost 250
million today so I'm I'm I'm I'm banking
on you guys because I don't want to have
a different conversation with them
agreed I think that's exactly what you
will be saying yeah unfortunately and
having coming from Transportation policy
committee today that's what we're
talking talking about especially when it
comes to roadways right the inflation of
everything um I just wanted to clarify
one thing we have a hold on our calendar
for July 16th not the 18th so let's get
that cleared up okay all right so yeah
I'll get with our communication
specialist you help put this together
thank you I just thought since it was on
the screen I better I better clar I
apologize yes it's the 16th sorry my
calendar goes nuts sometime so um thank
you for that and great presentation and
I also want to point out that we
wouldn't te technically talk about this
typical but I'm going to throw out there
that I was also able to get $7 million
from the state legislature in 2021 for
this bridge and we don't talk about that
often but um since we've been talking
about the 27 million that we got for the
wells I thought I would just throw that
out there too and I know that the
inflation has gone crazy with this so
thanks Ryan appreciate it um we'll bring
it back to the council for discussion or
a
motion you want to yeah mayor um I'll
make a
motion to approve item 24
AMV second I have a motion by council
member tilky seconded by council member
Buckley please
vote motion passes 60 congratulations
team long time coming we look forward to
July 16th or 18th whatever it is and I
was wrong it was $8 million from the
state legislature in 2021 so just going
to throw that out there thank you um
vice mayor next item 25 C council member
torguson actually I was given some
information that answered my question so
I have no further question on it I can
make a motion so I'll make a motion to
accept
25c have a motion I'll second I have a
motion by council member torus and
seconded by council member ran Giovani
please vote
motion passes
60 vice mayor is that it I believe that
completes the consent calendar mayor
excellent now we have administrative
items items are for Council discussion
and action number 37 Council
Administration consider adoption of the
town of Gilbert's Parks and Recreation
master plan for the years of 2024 to
2034 does anybody require a presentation
on this does anyone have questions of
staff on
this uh my question is if Scott had his
uh uh issue dealt with to your
satisfaction on this I was going to make
that comment that I thought they did a
great job addressing my uh concerns okay
so a vice mayor had some concerns during
our study session on this topic and um
they've been addressed by staff and so
we're thanking staff for taking care of
that um
would anybody like to make a
motion Parks leis on would you like to
make a motion sure um motion that we
approve item 37 the adoption of the town
of Gilbert Parks a recreation master
plan for the years of 2024 to
2034 I second a motion by council member
banavani seconded by council member
Buckley please
vote oh hold on it needs to be
activated for us
chaveli thank you
chaveli motion passes 70 congratulations
Parks team sorry 60 sorry force a habit
60 congratulations Parks team and I see
this is our um one of our um Parks
master plan and I thank you for sitting
through this meeting and I saw you over
there a little while ago I meant to say
hello but it's been kind of a crazy
evening thank you for being here this
evening we appreciate it um moving on to
item number 38 Council Administration
discussion and update from the community
engagement task force council member tki
thank you mayor um I'd like to thank
Melanie for being here in case you have
some questions I can't answer and for
staying this late so thank you Melanie
um just as a quick update we met with
the task force and advisory members on
Monday June 10th um we've got a a great
group representing our community their
expertise is going to enhance the
recommendations to this
Council um not a lot to report at this
meeting because we used our June meeting
to take care of all the formalities and
open meeting laws all those things that
you that they need to be brought up to
speed with um wanted to send a shout out
and thank you to Wendy from our people
team for her predictive index exercise
which was interactive not allowed us to
get to know one another and the
strengths that we're going to be
bringing to the team and the group um
discussions um we're current we are
gathering um information from the group
on topics they would like to pursue for
upcoming
meetings um they were very excited to
know that they're going to see the
results from the Teen survey and from
hearing from our Council and schoolly
aison in the future um I'm also uh
really pleased to just report that our
teen representatives were very engaging
during the entire meeting and so I was
really proud of them because it not that
open meeting law isn't exciting to learn
about but uh they they were there the
whole time got through it um our next
meeting is August 12th at 5:00 p.m in
the Heritage room which is uh Room 300
here um I just wanted to announce it it
will be on our um website if it is in
our already but we had to change two of
the dates of due to fall break so we
moved that meeting to October 21st and
Veterans Day moved to November 4th so um
with that that's my report thank you
thank you council member um the only
thing that I wanted to ask was we had a
couple members that weren't able to
attend June how did we handle
that um we had um one that uh one of
those was able to call in and so I think
we still have two um Melanie is going to
follow up with them and make sure that
they have all of the information the
good news is every one of uh those
appointed um were had already taken
their open meeting online training
before we got there so um she will
follow up and make sure that they have
all that information thank you it was
just something that we weren't able to
cover following the interviews any other
questions comments Ms on
CF great moving on vice mayor
Communications thank you mayor in the uh
interest of time I'm going to abbreviate
this um the Gart Town Council values
citizen comments and input anyone
wishing to speak before the council must
fill out a request to speak card for
each item that they wish to speak on and
submit it to the town clerk or place it
in the bin provided prior to the start
of the
meeting the communications from citizens
portion on the agenda provide citizens
an opportunity to identify for the Town
Council matters of Interest or concern
related to town government under the
provisions of the Arizona open meeting
law the Town Council has prohibited from
responding to issues that have not been
properly noticed while we understand and
appreciate the passion our community
members bring to these sessions we must
remind everyone that clapping during the
meeting is not acceptable this practice
can disrupt the flow of discussion
potentially intimidate others detract
from the respectful atmosphere we strive
to
maintain the town asks that when your
name is called you come forward to the
podium state your name your address and
your city of residence and then begin
speaking you'll have three minutes
unless you've contributed time to
someone
else our first Speaker tonight D leiss
did you want to speak again
good evening once again mayor vice mayor
and council members I appreciate your
time here today and I hope that tonight
you'll serve some giblets or whatever
that was that we talked about so the
reason why I'm here is regarding um Dr
2437 The LumberYard project the rezone
was approved by Council in May 2024 I do
not attend m of the community meetings
because or the Redevelopment or the
planning meetings because I thought it
would Nota impact me in my neighborhood
it was on ne's side I'm on the other
side about 400 feet away however I was
wrong I do not understand why the
developer would be placed on C the
council agenda when the development
doesn't meet the fire code
requirements I D it was uh whoa um not
the final plat so then I wondered why in
the world would this
developer give the town
$50,000 for mitigation for traffic I was
like May it's unheard of I'm like what
is going on well when I saw the packet
for the Redevelopment commission and I
saw what was going
on that the developer needs a secondary
emergency
access and now what's being planned and
I don't know for sure if it's being
planned or talked about is it is going
to re require an easement that the town
will be providing if they are providing
it um to the developer under whatever
circumstances and then it would take it
out to Phoenix Avenue and that's where I
come in Phoenix Avenue the plot is Lacy
track in 1917 oldest this neighborhood
Gilbert one of them the plot was the
plat was for Phoenix Avenue it was
dedicated for the public right at that
time it wasn't dedicated for a
developer so I asked why why would this
secondary
access not be included in any of the um
study sessions regarding the um design
gun or the design
I don't know I'm very um disturbed about
that because Phoenix Avenue has been a
road dedicated for over a hundred years
it's never been improved it's leading
into my neighborhood if this happens and
I know it's just an emergency access but
it's not it is ladder trucks we have
enough things going in our neighborhood
we have District
Lofts page Commons Senior Center more
multif family housing you name
it District
LS dang it I missed it anyway I will
close if I can and I would hope that the
counil look into this because I believe
that is it is a disservice to the public
and I wish and I respectfully ask that
it be looked at because I
think the town of the residents of
Gilbert the taxpayers are not to
supplement a developer they need to
widen the lot whatever they can do thank
you thank you D I think it'd be
appropriate if staff could contact D and
talk about that
project next up is Kristen Landry
you need to push the button on the the
microphone there hit the bottom of the
base of the microphone
thank you thank
you okay so I'm Kristen Landry this is
my son cter you have heard my son speak
before
but I have a communication
disability um a very complex
communication disability typically
people don't know what that is sometimes
firemen know because of strokes and it
um medical people know so I
requested sorry we live under
address we live under the address
confidentially program because we
are survivors of domestic
violence
um I requested from the town yesterday
80
accommodations so that we could speak
out and it was denied in 10
years since I had brain
surgery I've never been given ad
accommodation 10 years
in 10 years without the ability to
communicate I cannot ask a access thank
you I cannot access
Justice while we were fighting to
survive
pervasive
violence I have
requested multiple times to meet with
the chief of
police with an
interpreter using my Ada civil
rights I have been
ignored Lauren Ramirez if I said her
name
correctly was the last
judge I met in front
of and she did not give me my Ada rights
I was trying to seek an order of
protection I have met
with the mag domestic
violence chair
I'm looking because I know you are part
of
that and
have
continue and
have explained how
difficult it
is as a person
with communication disability and
domestic violence and a
resident of
Gilbert I have also spoken to Mara
County victims
rights I have also spoken to the AG's
office
today I spoke with the Maricopa County
prosecutor's
office saying because there is a hearing
I need to
attend to protect
us and I'm repeating myself over and
over and
over and PE trying to
explain every step that we have
tried what we have what
what step
I've the hurdle that I've um
overcome and fingers are appointed and
someone else is going to take
action my son as people know from the
Comm the council was assaulted for three
years in
school did
anyone help me to advocate for my
son I am his voice and I am his
Advocate but I need
my own voice to protect him I am
requesting that the town of Gilbert
follow Ada law respect people with
disabilities and have a meeting with me
regarding the struggles and the
possible recommendations recommendations
to assist people with disabilities more
effectively thank
you do you want to stay speak okay thank
you
andat hi my name is Ann ducet I'm not
going to disclose my address because I
don't want my trash can to be inspected
again it's amazing how wasteful taxpayer
money can be used for mayor city council
members for the past seven months I've
attended these meetings regularly just
like many other residents of Gilbert for
most of us City Council meetings aren't
a top priority unless there's some sort
of special occasion like a child
receiving a Citizenship Award or
something to that effect for me it's
mostly been showing up at this building
to pick up my Christmas ornament at the
end of the year that's the only reason
I've attended been to this building over
the past seven months I've spoken at
some meetings and simply observed others
I've noticed a concerning Trend the
meetings have become increasingly longer
and the quality of the discussions have
deteriorated early on there seem to be
some sort of cohesion or efficiency but
now I see a council just struggling
for the basic skills of communication
I've witnessed agenda items being
discussed in such a convoluted manner
that it often requires scheduling an
additional meeting just to talk about
the previous meeting I recently saw my
first executive session which was
interesting it's puzzling to watch
prolonged discussions in the meeting
only for you to disappear behind some
magical curtain for who knows what
conversation goes on behind there
what's most troubling though is the
pride and egos that stand out there are
dedicated citizens who come every two
weeks to inform you about real life
issues affecting our community sharing
personal experiences and their concerns
initially citizens comments were placed
at the beginning of the meeting and now
they are at the end it feels like a
tactic to discourage participation in
hoping people will just simply leave out
of frustration so you don't have to hear
it last meeting we waited 2 and 1 half
hours to speak and now we're up to 3
hours public speaking is difficult for
many yet some of us are willing to speak
out and fight for greater cause in
conclusion I urge the council to
consider the needs of the voices of the
residents more
seriously if efficient and respective
communication streamline meetings and
prioritize citizen comments greatly
enhance the quality of these sessions we
come here because we care about our
community and we hope that you do too
thanks for letting me
share thank you Carissa Arnold who has
received time from Jessica McGinley so
you have six minutes
Carissa good evening thank you for your
time
tonight at the end of the last meeting
it was stated that the I had spoke about
the officers that were standing in the
large group when I had gone down to eat
dinner um and it was stated that the
officers were probably at the garage
they weren't actually near the garage
they were in a tire block away and they
were standing in a straight line in a
dark parking lot and so I just wanted to
make sure that that got clarified that
the statements that I made about what
was going on was truthful and nothing
else we have been asking for paid
parking with the ability to validate
parking for people patronizing
businesses in
downtown sorry one second
here the top uh portion of the garage
can be used solely for employee parking
for restaurants down there and to keep
it um to prevent it from being used as a
hangout there can be limits on garage
access by allowing the garage to close
or not accept any more Vehicles past a
certain time signs can be posted for
foot traffic altering alerting them to
closures let's remember that a
19-year-old fell off the top of the
garage and died and it was it was there
on a Monday night at 11:00 at night and
this was not during peak hours which is
when you guys are discussing having the
security down there our group has asked
for suicide Nets as well it's a known
issue from your officers that both
minors and adults walk on the ledge of
the garage it will only be a matter of
time before someone else falls
again I've read social media posts
social media statements from community
members who live close to the garages
they've talked about how bad the noise
is from the cars trucks and motorcycles
as they rev up their engines going up
and down one homeowner stated that he
even thought that this was a normal
thing he had become so used to it he
didn't realize that this shouldn't be
happening all of these issues got
brought to light because we as a group
of citizens Patrol took initiative to go
visit the garages we took the initiative
to figure out what was going on in fact
a news report came out yesterday where
the city finally confirmed the drug use
underage drinking Etc if it wasn't for
us the garages would still be
functioning on the same level that they
were 6 to 8 weeks ago if it wasn't for
us doing the city's job kids would still
be doing drugs and drinking freely in
the garages this only brought got
brought out because a few of your
community cared enough about their teens
to actually go do something about it
meanwhile as we are bringing these
issues to to you we repeatedly heard
statements and excuses about why this
wasn't an issue now in recent days it is
being said to the media that you know
that this has been issue for a while for
almost 2
years and you guys are working to
protect the teens if it wasn't for our
group the city would have repeatedly
tried to hide the issues behind the teen
violence and what is going on in the
garages the security officers that are
currently going in are only going to
provide limited resources for that
garage the bike officers can only do so
much the cameras unless they're monitor
24 hours a day are not going to be able
to fully investigate and realiz see what
is is actually going on down there I
want to play this video for you so you
can
see this was just posted to social media
two weeks ago sorry it deleted let me
move it back over here so you can
see what perspective the community hasit
[Applause]
so this is a video of What appears to be
a 12-year-old kid on a dirt bike riding
underneath the lights popping a Willie
And as he exits out he goes I as
basically as I run let me read it off
here once they see that I run they won't
chase
me this has become the community
perspective in many social media posts
that they can do whatever they want
because as a city they know that they
can get away with doing it this is a
12-year-old now this was an the episode
from Dr Phil was issued today and here's
a statement from drinking and smoking a
criminal
informant parking lot of that fast food
place in front of cops drinking and
smoking granted the cops didn't do
anything uh either the cops don't care
or the cops are I think being paid off
they were doing doing some serious like
heinous acts in front of these cops like
they'd be walking around with their
brass knuckles out and like you could
see like their gun poking out of their
shirt and like the cops wouldn't do
anything so this all comes back down to
you guys as a city
council the video sorry Gilbert is the
only city in Arizona where kids and
young adults are Brazen enough to post
videos about how they can get away with
doing whatever they want because the
police won't chase them Council that
comes from you you have the say over
your community how your community is
managed you have the say over how your
officers function and what they allow
people to do and get away with there is
so little respect for your officers that
Community posts videos on it that's not
okay your officers should be having the
respect that they deserve the goons had
several videos like this this falls on
you and you cannot run a city and say
there isn't a crime
problem with social media posts going on
we are asking for full transparency and
accountability we are asking for an
internal investigation and then finally
we are asking that you allow your
employees to start speaking again they
used to speak freely at Town Council
meetings about issues going on in their
departments and that has disappeared
they fear that they are in Jeopardy of
their jobs if they speak
out when employees are silenced so are
the problems give them the chance to be
open and communicate with you as a
Council and work to give the city better
footage to create a more unified
Community Thank You Bridget Vega and
Bridget you've got time donated by Scott
Meyers so you have six minutes there
should be another one donated you only
get one all right then we're going to
make this quick good evening mayor
council it's so refreshing to see after
wait time out can we use that other
three minutes and donate it to Ann then
because they didn't tell us that when we
did the meeting or when we sign
registered I don't have another card for
well my other three minutes can I then
donate that to
an to finish off so we can use the
minute there should be another one from
Jo who scottt Myers from Joel who's
Scott Meyer Scot's right there that your
three minutes went to you which is six
minutes correct then there should be one
more from Joel and if there's only if
you can only take one donation then I
would like to donate my additional the
Joel's to an three minutes for you and
three minutes for an correct okay there
should be one more from Joel that so
mine total should have been nine we can
only use one for me then I'd like to
give that three minutes to Ann
okay good evening mayor and
councel six minutes it was so refreshing
to see after months of gaslighting the
victims and Community your assistant
chief on the news is finally admitting
underage drinking illegal drugs and
violent behavior in the parking garage
at Heritage District Banger we ask for
you to take immediate action to address
the safety and fix the elevator on 70
West vau downtown garage fix the lights
unless the cameras have night vision in
there plus if we can fix the ceiling and
the shaking elevator so it can operate
normal again next we ask that you take
immediate action on the garages by
enforcing officers who are designated to
be in that area run IDs until people get
until people get sided we don't we will
not see change as a community we want an
external investigation mayor council
Chief Banger you don't get to look the
other way on this issue innocent
children have died and have been
brutally assaulted on your guys's watch
reports show that Gilbert PD has
evidence of Gilbert goons attacks long
before Preston was killed had everyone
done their jobs Connor Jarnigan TR
Keener and so many others wouldn't have
been assaulted impresson Lord would be
alive today Gilbert you have blood on
your hands we demand transparency and
accountability we need you as leadership
to step up and be proactive instead of
you instead you guys continue to
perpetuate and inflict harm on the
community thank you to the citizens
Patrol as the
community has
been present throughout the past couple
months at the garages as stated on the
news police are now keeping a close eye
on the parking garage in downtown
Gilbert personally would like to say
based off of our experience we got tired
of being gas lit and private
conversations so we brought it to the
public as it was falling on deaf ears in
April we filed a complaint on two units
and that's what pushed a lot of the
conversation forward I would like to
play a clip actually I'll play I would
like to play a clip from an encounter
but due to lack of time I'd rather play
the doct Phil one tragically
we had spoken to
officers and said what are you going to
do wait until somebody else dies or
suicide is committed or another assault
happens again due to lack of action
based off of you guys a 19-year-old fell
off the rooftop as you continue to turn
a blind eye and continue negligence and
lack of action by the town of Gilbert
and Gilbert PD and mother and family had
to bury their son he was loved he loved
video games and sports he was
outgoing and he also was the kind of
person that would do a lot for you and
ask nothing in return our condolences
and prayers go out to the family please
know you're not alone we're here for you
rise up Gilbert please make sure to
visit drill.com to watch the prime time
as the town of Gilbert teen violence and
the Gilbert goons are on the latest
episode
I'd like to play a
clip maybe if we can get it to being
investigated and trust me I have a big
platform and a bright
light and a lot of people are going to
be paying very close attention to
this very close attention to this and
I'm like a bad rash I don't go
away I want to say one thing that a lot
of people don't think that there's a way
out don't let your fear
override uh that decision cuz in the end
you're going to you can be an old man
and you're going to want out anyway I
wish I would have got out many years
before I got out and so many things
would have been different yeah so so
parents sometimes we have to parent
sometimes we have to
reparent it's never too late and if you
haven't done what you need to do until
now do it
now do it now save your kid now don't
let this continue because it's getting
ready to get real
hot real hot in Gilbert Arizona I want
to thank Lonnie so I still have a
minute so let me go back and I'm going
to play the one I wanted to share
previously with the parking garage
[Music]
ask you a quick
question what was your name Roger
Roger how come none of these people got
in trouble you know half of them are
drinking we're kicking them all out
that's all I asked there this is a
violation of the ARs code okay it's
posted how come none of them are after
the video of the person that was walking
across the edge right there and after
all the fights and
goons why did not one person you guys
stop after we literally told you guys
they were drinking cuz we watched
them so you're aware that we don't have
officers down or doing anything else
right you have kids up here drinking all
right and we have officers down at the
bottom of the garage waiting for them to
do
other why did not any of these people
get a ticket for basket it doesn't we
can't do that but your
ARS I get what it
says I have a I have an honest question
yes how hard is it for Gilbert py
especially with everything going on in
the East Valley and after a k was
murdered and multiple assaults how hard
is it for Gilbert py to move one of
those three vehicles that literally
three Gilbert police cars downstairs on
the first level how hard is it to put
one up here and station someone up here
they send you guys on bike cops why
can't we get an officer up here to avoid
any of this situation we can't just sit
here on so I asked that you guys uh
actually you wait till another kid is
assaulted or murdered uh so I asked that
you guys uh look into Internal Affairs
and that is clearly all the evidence has
been turned over and reported so I'll
turn my other three minutes to thank
you there wasn't three minutes you've
had six minutes no there's not nine
total had six minutes then Joelle should
give
that you get a total of six
minutes if Joel wants to speak if Joelle
wants to speak she can
speak we can't donate N9 minutes six
minutes total was
it thank you Don Edwards whose time was
also donated from Crystal so Don you
have six
minutes uh before I start I just want
to uh the lady over there was Johnny on
the spot she grabbed that one lady
before her knees hit the thing and
everybody looked so they did a great job
over there I just want to let you know
but uh good evening Madame mayor Mr vice
mayor and Este team council members my
name's Don Edwards uh I was forced to
retire from the fire department after I
was retaliated again for filing a
complaint against my supervisor I'm here
tonight to continue to shine a light on
the people currently in charge of the
fire department the culture they are for
fostering and why the morale in that
department is at an all-time low most of
us would prefer to follow a leader than
work for a manager there are many ways
to differentiate between the two but
tonight I'll focus on one that always
stood out for me uh for me it was always
correlated to how much somebody you uses
policy as a crutch it was always obvious
to me when supervisors were
uncomfortable in their position they
were the ones who fell back on policy
because they were afraid or unable to
make decisions for themselves shortly
after I was promoted to captain in
January 2006 I attended a captain's
meeting by our then fire chief uh Chief
dwit I don't remember the exact reason
that this comment came up but it always
stuck with me when Chief dwit said
policies are guidelines that help us to
do our job serving Mr and Mrs Smith as
long as you don't break the law and
nobody gets hurt everything else is a
conversation the best people that I had
the opportunity to work for or alongside
understood what that statement meant
they were leaders conversely the worst
people I ever worked for simply managed
by policy says
so so this is how we're going to do
things uh one of the former members
who's also chosen to speak out about the
department brought up an example of
assistant fire chief Bob badget coming
in from home to send a captain home for
restocking Mass during a pandemic during
that pandemic which just happened to be
the most potent leadership challenge in
all of our lifetimes membership was left
leaderless as all the top brass was
working from home
in the words of our last fire chief
thank God we have good captains they got
us through this the problem that is
plagued the Gilbert Fire Department for
as long as I could think of is the lack
of leadership at the chief officer
positions the entire first group of
Chief officers including most of the BCS
were rural metro
leftovers they went on to Mentor the
next group who then mentored the current
crop of managers
there's a reason why the high Watermark
of the Gilbert Fire Department was under
Chief Colin dwit he came from the
outside and he understood leadership is
more than just managing
people there are multiple reasons for
the low moral in the department
currently but I think if you boiled most
of them down to their base constituent
Parts you'll find that the lack of
leadership is a leading
cause um I'm going to be fast this time
as always I thank you for the
opportunity to speak and I ask that you
reach out and talk to your firefighters
they deserve better than the current
batch of managers they have they deserve
the
leadership to help them serve the
community in the best way that they know
how thank you again see you in two weeks
great
job what's that
so next up is Steve lval and it says
Steve that you received donated time but
yours is the only name on there I'm
assuming it's from your
wife
okay yeah
yeah good evening Council um I just want
to start off real quick talk about a
promotional process that occurred about
a year ago Inside the Fire Department
was for the captain and in that process
um they did what they called a peer
evaluation they called it a 360 feedback
but they said that they're not going to
use the information to evaluate the
candidates but that the candidates
themselves were supposed to uh I guess
address that and talk about their 360
feedback as part of their promotional
process I bring that up because uh well
I believe you guys were involved in the
hiring of the fire chief that he was
just talking about and I believe the
peer evaluations he received prior to
that hiring process were pretty poor I
think 80% of the probably the fire
department absolutely asked you to go
outside the department because we didn't
have leadership inside the department
but you guys continue to listen to that
guy who hasn't shown any leadership
either he picks people who just say yes
to him and just do what he wants they're
puppets okay so the real director or the
real leader of your
Public Safety right now is Leah
reinheimer she's in charge of it she
should be the chief she's over the
police department and the fire
department and your uh Public Safety
departments are quite frankly a mess so
you might want to think about exactly
what's going on at the leadership level
from that man's seat from Leah
reinheimer seat and from your public
safety seats to kind of clean this mess
up which leads me to a couple other
things council member torguson you
mentioned transparency a couple times
tonight so with that I wrote down some
notes um mayor you've had a pre-written
statement the last two times I'm sure
we're going to hear it again tonight it
talks about uh you saying you're
concerned over the potential damage to
Gilbert were you so concerned when uh
what was it uh Mr riff I believe was his
name and his Second Amendment right
excuse me his first amendment rights
were violated were you concerned about
the reputation of Gilbert at that
Point um second I have to say is that uh
you keep saying that uh we highlight
allegations opinions and false
claims um first you continue to talk
about the Pierce Coleman report as a
third-party process or a third- party
independent evaluation and you keep
saying that they have done a an
investigation and have found no findings
yet you don't show me any facts you
don't provide it backup paperwork I've
provided you documentation I have
documentation and proof of what I say I
ask that you present the same a matter
of fact I ask all of councel in that
report it says that there's 500 pages in
that report that's the that's the
evaluation that's what they looked at
500
pages make them public post them you put
a QR code up for the 16-page report put
all the 500 pages up Let the public see
it let them see what's written let them
read it let them be the
judge let them decide if it's a fake or
if it's a real
investigation I have another question
about that has anybody asked that
company how many people from the fire
department they
interviewed I know what the answer is
they didn't interview anybody involved
in that process because they would have
found out some
truths so that report does not get does
not does not protect the town I hate to
tell you that you're not owning up to it
you're not speaking truth and it's not
going to go away until you do had that
man just apologized years ago come out
publicly and said hey I'm sorry we
screwed up we will never do it again we
wouldn't be here today but you have to
own what you
do uh leads me to one more thing
here
uh currently there are three members
actually maybe two more things currently
there are three members in that fire
department on paid administrative leave
over some stuff that I'm not going to
really talk about right now because I
don't have all the facts to that and I
like to come with facts but I do know
one thing those three men report up to a
chief who surely signed off on what they
did and I do mean surely because I can't
believe that they would have shut down
an entire uh training center on a Sunday
without a chief approval but that Chief
goes to work every
day there's not a chief in this
organization that's on paid
administrative leave but there's three
individuals two captains and and an
engineer that are as you do your
investigation okay why is it only held
at the street level why are uh
management uh in this organization never
held accountable why are they not on
paid administrative
leave uh last I'll leave it with this uh
transparency transparency is a big part
of what you talked about tonight we do
not have transparency in this
organization we don't I've been part of
it for a long time and I could go on
about other hirings and other things um
and frankly I might have to I might have
to keep coming back and staying up till
10 or 11 until we get action I asked you
guys a long time ago I said you guys
said it you said you are the uh you are
the board you're the executive board
he's the CEO the executive board holds
the CEO accountable the executive board
can fire the CEO
that's the truth you can hold him
accountable to whatever level you deem
but right now your organization has zero
leadership thank you for your
time thank you cter Landry
you you'd like to donate your
time no she said another speaker already
presented
what
okay thank
you that concludes the uh Communications
mayor thanks vice
mayor would anyone like to um make any
comments I'm going to
ask any comments following
Communications from citizens
um since we're only allowed to respond
to
criticism I I am going to read my
statement again and I'm going to keep
reading my statement speakers continue
to utilize the one way citizen comment
section of town Council meetings to
share their opinions regarding the
office of digital government and town
leadership continuing to highlight
claims that were thoroughly investigated
internally then externally by a third
party investigator who found the
accusations had no Merit I am concerned
with the potential Damage Done to
Gilbert's name heart and town
organization by these continued efforts
of a few to highlight allegations
opinions and false claims the spoken
word has the capacity to inflict damage
this community is facing many pressing
issues I respect and welcome any and all
efforts and energies that work to bring
uh to bringing us together as a
community not those that divide us any
that moves us forward in a positive
manner any that honor the town's small
town Roots we all know and love those
neighborly attitudes that were the very
reason many of us moved to Gilbert I
challenge us to be better humans to each
other we will move on to yes I didn't
think you were going to present that
again but I wanted to make a point that
I don't think that represents my point
of view because uh I brought forward
part of that Coleman Pierce whatever
investigation in a video that I know
know some people that voted to accept
that had never seen and I didn't find it
to be a joke I didn't find it to be
something to be dismissed I found it
highly
inflammatory so I I I have to
respectfully disagree with what you say
I was not on Counsel at the time but I
am the only one that dug deep enough to
watch that video and I am personally
offended by it on every single level so
I just want want to make it clear that I
don't agree with you on that point thank
you appreciate your comments um I don't
believe we ever voted on that um but we
can't get into a discussion on that here
we're not allowed to communication
excuse me future meetings Council may
discuss whether to place an item on a
future agenda but may not discuss the
merits of the item study session related
to meet and confer requested by vice
mayor Anderson council member Bon
Giovani and council member Buckley will
be on a future agenda study session
agenda Communications from the report
from the town manager mayor I'm sorry I
had a future agenda item sorry sorry
that's okay um I was wondering if um we
could receive an update on the uh
2022 go bonds at our Retreat I think
we've had several um references to it in
some of our projects and I don't know if
it was already on the agenda but I would
like to hear a little bit more about our
status on that thank you thank
you Communications report from the town
manager thank you mayor members of the
council a couple items tonight first I
want to recognize our water conservation
team here at Gilbert the they received a
shout out at the University of Colorado
Boulders conference on the Colorado
River on June 7th during a session on
reshaping cities to be SmartWater by the
alliance of water efficiency director of
programs conference included panels from
all of the voices on the river Mexico
the upper Basin States lower Basin
States tribes academics environmental
groups and Recreation the recognition
was for the success of our continuous
consumption program that notifies
customers of potential leaks at the
residence or business based on Ami meter
data it's outstanding to receive
recognition in front of this audience
given that Arizona historically doesn't
get in the spotlight for conservation
when it comes to the Colorado River
and then second we want to thank
Lieutenant mandragon who has announced
his upcoming retirement he's probably
someone all of you personally know if
you don't personally know him I'm sure
you've heard his name he has been a
longtime leader for us he began his
service with Gilbert PD in October
1996 as an officer he served in Patrol
field training and he was a member of
Gilbert's first full-time bik team who
worked to prev to pave the way for
Gilbert's growth in the Heritage
District mon Dragon served as a
detective in the property crimes unit
and the person's crimes unit until he
was promoted to the rank of Sergeant as
a sergeant he served on various Patrol
teams and then moved to the enforcement
support unit where he proposed the
unified detention program with Chandler
PD 2014 mandragon was promoted to the
rank of Lieutenant where he served in
Patrol investigations and is completing
his career as the administrative support
Lieutenant we wish Lieutenant mandragon
the best of luck in his retirement and
and gratitude for all of the years of
service to the this
community that's all I have tonight
thank you Patrick um I did a ride along
with Lieutenant mandragon several years
ago great guy congratulations on the
retirement Lieutenant um Communications
report from the council I have one yes
counc member Buckley uh this will
probably be short and quick I guess I
have to move my my mic a little closer
um so this is the extension of Economic
Development and Tourism again and Dan's
killing me here because what we're going
to say today is May 23rd Air France
began service from Paris to Phoenix Sky
Harbor International Airport so Gilbert
was featured at a recent Paris trade and
media reception through an opportunity
with Arizona office of Tourism
showcasing Gilbert's best attractions to
over 50 international trade and media
professionals should you want to um
additional information on the above or
wish to chat about Gilbert tourism
please call Dan at
48720
8779 so we now have flights to London
and
Paris and all all of hopefully in all
sincerity here is that all of the
tourism and the people flying into the
Phoenix and Gilbert area could be you
know great economic inact for us so
that's it for me thank you Council
bonani hey it's Parks time let's talk
about the happenings for next week
before next week's council meeting
senior prom for ages 55 plus Rocky you
just called me a senior uh step into the
time machine and groove in the 80s beats
with an evening of dancing delicious
treats endless fun and memorable
snapshots join us on Friday June 21st
2024 from 2: p.m. to 400 p.m. at the
Gilbert Community Center our Gilbert 4th
of July celebration join us for the 2024
Gilbert 4th of July celebration
presented by nhart Auto Group and Hayden
building Corp this free familyfriendly
event will take place on when Thursday
July 4th at Gilbert Regional Park from
400 p.m. to 9 9:30 p.m. experienced live
performances by Chad Freeman in Redline
dirt road the Jason Eline experience and
in the um Kenny chesne tribute plus
there will be an area aerial
entertainment including a one OFA kind
drone show and uh some amazing
fireworks and that's
it thank you any
other comments from Council Members
great then I will share Communications
from the mayor can I have my slide on
whichever one you want to pop up
June whichever one comes up first heat
relief Network so right now we are part
of the Maricopa Association of
government heat relief efforts to raise
the items that are listed on the screen
bottled water electrolyte packets hats
light colored t-shirts sunblock and they
can be donated to all of the locations
shown on the screen there's a QR code or
visit our town of Gilbert website and
put in heat relief I'm sure that it will
come up for you immediately it's very
important we had um we exceeded over 600
deaths in Maricopa County last year due
to the Heat and I'm sure we're expecting
another hot summer it's already been hot
out there so all of the help we could
get would be greatly appreciated and
we're also doing as I mentioned one of
the first items is bottled water and the
bottled water drive right there you can
see last year we had 15,000 and we would
like to beat that goal next slide June
do I have another one I don't have
another one okay um we didn't get the
for our town teacher Drive in there so
for our town is running a teacher supply
drive for teachers please keep an eye on
social media for that one and for our
mayak students if anybody knows a teen a
Gilbert te high school teen if they
would like to participate in mayak have
an interest in government and Leadership
this is a great opportunity for them the
applications are open until June 30th
2024 at 11:59 p.m. visit gilbertaz.gov
myac this morning at Phoenix Mesa
Gateway with kind of a historic moment
um Phoenix Macy Gateway has ended its
long relationship with Sky Harbor and in
the city of Phoenix and that will end on
June 30th of this year as of July 1st
Phoenix will no longer be part of the
Phoenix Mesa Gateway Authority board
that we have out there at the airport
and we had elections this morning
incoming on July 1st as the new chair
will be Queen Creek mayor Julia Wheatley
and vice chair will be hila River
lieutenant governor Anton um Vice and
Mesa mayor Giles will become the
secretary and I will become the treasur
as of July 1st and that's all I have can
I take a motion to adjourn no meeting in
July motion motion to adjourn I make a
motion to adjourn so moved we are
adjourned